


Live, Laugh, Love

by Java_bean



Series: It's the Thought that Counts [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/M, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, When I say slow burn I mean like, also sorry about the silly title, also there's katara/aang in this but it's not major, but yeah sokka/zuko WILL be the endgame in this, just a touch for flavor, partially because I don't remember exactly how everything goes down, slow like cooking a rotisserie chicken slow, so there's not actually gonna be too much of romance in it unfortunately, sorry this is less of a sokka/zuko fic and more of a sokka fic, the sokka/suki isn't main but I do love their relationship so I'm gonna keep it in there for a bit, this is gonna be part of a series, thought I should mention it though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Java_bean/pseuds/Java_bean
Summary: The mark itself was a thought.Histhought, transcribed with ink onto his skin permanently.It was the first thought he'd have when he'd fall in love with his soulmate.There were only two things he really knew about his soulmate.1. He was a guy.2. He had a nice laugh.Or at least, he thought he must have a nice laugh. Maybe the most beautiful laugh in the world. It wasn't really a certainty, but what else could he have meant when he thoughtI'd give anything to hear him laugh like that againthe moment he fell in love?Sokka's always had his doubts about meeting his soulmate. Now that he's been dragged headfirst into the war effort with his little sister and a 12-year-old avatar in tow, he's even less enthusiastic about wanting to meet him. But with the promise of a future meeting is also the promise of survival until that fated day. As Sokka travels the world and meets new people, he hopes to everything that he believes in that he can keep his soulmate safe the only way he knows how;pretending he doesn't care about him at all.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), minor Aang/Katara - Relationship, minor Sokka/Suki - Relationship, minor Sokka/Yue - Relationship
Series: It's the Thought that Counts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875496
Comments: 108
Kudos: 373





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! :D 
> 
> So it's been awhile since I've written anything, but with the avatar renaissance and the increase of zuko/sokka content on my dash (thanks, Riley) I just really felt inspired to write something again. I know there's a ton of soulmate AUs out there (and they're all SO GOOD) but I had this idea planted in my brain for a hot minute and hopefully it's gonna be a fun read. Or at least like. .. interesting. As for the title, it is very silly, I'm not great with titles and this is legit the best idea I had. Unfortunately the fic is probably not gonna be as funny as the title would suggest.
> 
> Also I apologize in advance for any of the events that take place in this fic that follow canon but not perfectly. I'm currently just working off my memory of what happened in the first couple episodes and my memory is not awesome. So if anything happens that feels kinda off it's probably because of that, lol.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

There were a few things about the concept of soulmates that Sokka wasn't exactly fond of. He didn't hate the idea, per se, he just thought the spirits could have tried a little harder with this one. 

Not that he was criticizing the spirits. Of course not. Tui and La, he would _never_. 

But maybe they could have used a _little_ constructive criticism with this one. Constructive criticism that Sokka was more than happy to give. 

There were a lot of things about soulmates that were confusing to him. In order to unpack all of his hangups about them, it would be best to start at the beginning with the most basic information that he thought could use improvement.

At exactly ten years old, the anniversary of your birth by the very minute, the spirits either gifted you with a soulmark or they didn't. Not everyone got a soulmate. That just seemed unfair to Sokka. 

Happy birthday, here's nothing. Love, the spirits. 

Despite the injustice to other kids, Sokka got his soulmark on his tenth birthday. 

He'd been out fishing with his dad when he felt something weird beneath his gloves. Pins and needles, like that part of his hand had suddenly gone numb. 

It was scary, to have it happen so suddenly like that. Unexpected. He gripped his fishing pole with all the strength in his left hand while he tore off his too big glove off the right with his teeth. 

Once he'd wrestled the glove off, it took him almost a full minute to register what he saw.

It was right on his wrist. The same spot his soulmate would have theirs. An extremely visible but not uncommon placement. 

Not that knowing where the mark was would help him find his soulmate at all, anyway. 

Which led into Sokka's next complaint.

The mark itself was a thought. _His_ thought, transcribed with ink onto his skin permanently. 

It was the first thought he'd have when he'd fall in love with his soulmate. 

The problem with that was that it was just so… so… vague. A thought? A single sentence? That was supposed to be enough for him to find this other person? 

If this was the person he was supposed to be with forever, you'd think they would at least offer him the first thought he'd ever had about him. Or maybe a physical description. Or a portrait on his back like a wanted poster so he could just lift his shirt and say "have you seen this guy?" until he found him. 

There were only two things he really knew about his soulmate. 

1\. He was a guy.  
2\. He had a nice laugh.

Or at least, he thought he must have a nice laugh. Maybe the most beautiful laugh in the world. It wasn't really a certainty, but what else could he have meant when he thought **_I'd give anything to hear him laugh like that again_** the moment he fell in love? 

In the grand scheme of things, the information he had wasn't a lot to work with. Some people got lucky and fell in love while thinking their soulmate's name. At least they got to know a little more about what they were getting into. 

Even his sister, Katara, got something better than his deal. 

Katara's birthday had seemed to come and go without incident at first. She waited excitedly all day for that weird tingly sensation Sokka still remembered with very little fondness to overtake a part of her body and write her own thoughts onto her. No matter what, she just couldn't sit still. Even at mealtimes she was constantly pulling at her sleeves or tugging at her hood to check any odd sensations she imagined. 

She spent the whole day, morning until evening, pacing around and doing chores to keep busy while simultaneously badgering everyone she saw about soulmark stories. For Sokka, the day went by in a blur. For his sister, it must have been excruciatingly long. The sun dipped under the horizon and the moon rose to take its place in the darkening sky. The day was over, and Katara hadn't gotten a soulmark. 

She wasn't … distraught, exactly, but she was sad in the way any ten year old girl would be if they found out their dreams of a romantic love just for them was crushed. Looking at his little sister, hunched in her big parka and resolutely not crying as Gran Gran stroked her hair and told her it was all going to be okay, that she didn't need a soulmate to complete her, Sokka wished he could transfer his mark over to her instead. It's not like he even wanted his, he wouldn't mind giving him up for her. Trade his soulmate's laugh for his sister's smile.

As it turned out, it wasn't a trade he had to make.

"Sokka!" Her furiously excited whisper stirred him from sleep. He grumbled something to her without opening his eyes, waved his hand dismissively, and rolled over. He'd just gotten to sleep, whatever she was so excited about could wait til morning.

Katara didn't seem to get the message. As soon as he was facing away from her, she started shaking him. "Sokka, wake up!" 

This was starting to get annoying. Why couldn't she just let him sleep? He stayed quiet, gritting his teeth together and stubbornly squeezing his eyes tight. He was going to sleep. She could wait. 

Unfortunately, one of the traits that he and Katara shared was their stubbornness. Sokka, in this case, was at a disadvantage because he was tired and, unless he actually fell asleep, was at her mercy listening to her beg him all night. If Katara wanted him for something, he had no choice but to comply.

He felt more than he saw her climb on top of him, sitting on his stomach. He cracked open an eye and glared at her, barely able to make her out in the dark night and pale light of the moon. 

He was about to open his mouth and ask what was so important when he suddenly found himself with a toe right in his mouth.

He sputtered and sat up in bed, knocking Katara off in the process. "Gross, Katara, what was that all about? 

"Sokka, look!" And her foot was shoved right back into his face again. 

"Ew, Katara, stop!" He grabbed onto her foot and pushed it away. "What're you-" 

Then he saw it. And he understood. 

Katara was born in the middle of the night. How could they have all forgotten? 

The girl in question beamed up at him, a wide grin on her face. Her toes wiggled in his grip and she was turning her foot this way and that so he could read the words imprinted fresh on her heel in the moonlight.

**_I guess he really is a powerful bender, huh?_**

"That's amazing, Katara!" 

"Yeah!" She grinned and then slowly extracted her foot from his hand before continuing in a slow, almost shy whisper. "I wanted you to be the first to know." 

That was … the sweetest thing she ever could have said. Sharing a soulmark with someone was such a personal thing, it was literally sharing the most tender thought of your life. Only a select few ever saw a soulmark that wasn't theirs or their partner's. 

There hadn't been a doubt in his mind that he would see hers. After all, he'd gone right to her after the fishing trip was over. If she had one, he knew she would show him. To be the first to see it, though? 

What an honor.

"Aw, Sokka, are you crying?" 

"No!" He said defensively as he wiped at his eyes. Yeah, he wasn't crying. His eyes were just a little more moist than usual. 

Katara fell forward onto him in a hug. Her entire weight against his chest and her arms loose around his neck. The only thing keeping them upright was the arm he'd been using to prop himself up. 

"That's kind of a weird spot," Sokka mumbled into her hair, "how'd you even know you had it?" 

"I felt so bad about not getting a soulmark that I couldn't sleep." She admitted. "I was heading outside to practice waterbending, but when I got to the door my foot started to feel weird. I thought I stepped on something." 

Katara laughed. It was a bubbly, sweet sound. He wondered if the tiredness was amplifying it, or if she was really that excited to have the mark. Either way, he'd never seen her so happy before. The closest he could think of was when she’d discovered she was a waterbender. 

"So," he said, unable to stop the teasing tone in his voice as he looked down at her foot "a really powerful bender, huh?" 

"Mhm!" She nodded, pointedly ignoring the tone. "I wonder what he bends?" 

Since there were no other benders in the Southern water tribe other than her, it was safe to say that meant she either traveled to the North in the future or would meet an earthbender. Either way, she would probably be traveling.

Neither of them entertained the idea of her soulmate being fire nation.

"Well whatever it is, sounds like you're shocked by it." 

"Am not!" She pulled back from their embrace, hitting his chest lightly with her fist. "I would _never_ doubt my soulmate like that!" 

"Right, right of course not." Sokka nodded. "Whoever this guy is, I'm sure he's amazing. Maybe you just underestimated him a little bit at first. No shame in that." 

"Maybe I'm the more powerful bender and I didn't realize he was any good until he kicked someone else's butt." Katara supplied, stroking her chin lightly. 

As of right now, she was not a very powerful bender. Part of that was her age, and the other was that she didn't have anyone to teach her. That wasn’t really her fault, but being her big brother it meant he was allowed to joke about her struggles with the magic water to a certain extent. Not right now, though. He could tease her about her lack of skill next time she dropped a chunk of ice on his foot or dumped water on his head. 

"You know, that might be it." 

Katara grinned before finally climbing off of Sokka, choosing to lay down next to him instead. Sokka decided to join her, offering her some of the blanket he still had draped over his legs. 

"I wonder how long it'll be before I meet him?" She accepted the blanket and snuggled into his side. Her head was on his shoulder. "And how long it'll take me to realize he's my soulmate?" 

"I don't know. I think all people with soulmarks wonder about that." Sokka admitted quietly. He tried to resist the urge to look down at his wrist, but wasn't able to fight it off fully. "I know I do." 

Katara grabbed his right hand and pulled it over to her, running her thumb over his soulmark. "I'm sure it won't be long. For either of us." 

"It definitely won't take very long for me to figure out who they are, once we've met." He boasted lightheartedly. "After all, I'm hilarious." 

"Oh, are you so sure about that?" Katara raised an eyebrow and pretended to examine his soulmark. There was a smirk playing on her face. "Funny, your mark doesn't say anything about you making him laugh. Maybe he thinks _I'm_ the funny one." 

"Katara, you don't really think my soulmate doesn't have a sense of humor, do you?" Sokka feigned worry, an exaggerated frown on his face. 

"Who's to say?" Katara shrugged, releasing the gentle hold she had on his wrist. "Certainly not me." 

"Yeah." Sokka let his hand fall to the blanket, wrist turned towards him so he could stare at the mark for just a moment longer. "Not me, either." 

They went to sleep. The next morning, Katara shared her good news with Gran Gran and Dad just as excitedly as she had with him in the night. 

Sometimes Sokka was thankful the spirits had bothered blessing his thought with a pronoun at least, otherwise he'd be stuck having his mark apply to anyone. The search was narrowed, just a little bit. Not that he was even searching, because he didn’t really care about it quite as much as others around him did.

Sokka knew that having a soulmate was a blessing. As such, there was no way the spirits would tie him to this other person and never let them have the chance to meet. Since he had the mark, they were guaranteed to not only cross paths, but to fall in love someday. 

Maybe not immediately. 

Maybe not for years after their initial meeting. 

But someday, for sure, they would love each other.

Sokka was young, and in no real hurry to find this other person. If his soulmate really wanted to meet, he could find him. He certainly wasn’t going to waste the effort when he had so many other things that needed to be done.

(Sokka would never admit it, but one of the reasons he was so disinterested in finding his soulmate was because once he found him, once he fell in love with him, there was no guarantee for how long that love would last. Yes, it would be for their entire lives, but they were in the middle of a war that seemed like it would never end. It had already taken so much from him so soon, his Dad, gone to fight with the promise to return someday soon, his Mom, gone for good. He didn’t know what he would do if this was taken from him, too. As long as they hadn’t met, as long as he kept that thought from his mind, his soulmate would live. So, for the time being, it was best not to meet).

Still, sometimes, when he and Katara were doing chores together or were just sitting around and enjoying doing nothing, they would talk about their soulmates. They were the only two in the village they could talk to about these things, everyone else was either an adult who had already found theirs or a little kid who was still too young to develop a mark of their own yet. It was just him and Katara, left in the strange place of knowing they’re out there somewhere, but uncertain of who and where they are. 

“What do you think they’re like?” Katara asked, not for the first time as she tried to bend some water into an orb and freeze it. “Our soulmates?”

Sokka was sharpening his boomerang, sitting several feet away from Katara and out of what he’d deemed “the splash zone”. “I don’t know.”

She had the water for a moment. It seemed like it was going to do something this time. It was forming a shape...she had it...and then she didn’t. The water fell back to the sea below with a plop. She sighed and lifted her arms to try again. 

“Maybe they know each other?” She suggested. “Brave, strong warriors from our sister tribe who can really hold their own in a fight.”

“That could be.” Sokka nodded along. Was anyone from the North actually fighting? He didn’t know much about the Northern water tribe, but he was pretty sure they’d closed off their walls like the bigger parts of the Earth Kingdom had and were just trying to stay out of it as best they could. Not that he could really blame them for that. If he had the option, he wouldn’t let anyone leave home, either. Everyone would stay safe. Stay here. “Maybe your soulmate can teach you how to waterbend better.”

“I can waterbend just fine, thank you.” Katara grumbled. 

As if to prove the claim, she splashed him with the water she'd been unsuccessfully bending. Really, he should have seen that coming. The shock of frigid water to the face was starting to become a little too familiar. 

While he was drying his face on the furs of his parka, Katara continued. “I guess I wouldn’t mind having somebody to practice with, though.”

There was an ache to the way she said it that hurt Sokka’s chest. Of course she would want someone she could bend with. It must be hard, being so alone. Sometimes, Sokka was jealous of his sister’s bending. He didn’t mean to be, but it was like the spirits were saying that Katara was special in a way he wasn’t able to be. Not for the first time, and definitely not the last, he wished he was a waterbender like his sister. If only so he could ease her pain just a little bit. 

Since that wasn’t possible, he hoped the spirits at least had the decency to grant her a waterbender for a soulmate. 

“Let’s forget about bending for a minute.” Sokka said with a wave of his hand. “We already know he’s a bender. But what do you think he’s like? Personality wise?”

The water she’d been playing with faltered and fell again, this time into the snow. There was something close to a blush heating up her face. “Sokka.”

“Katara.” He said her name with the same tone. “Come on, don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it. You’re a girl, fantasizing about your soulmate is one of those things you guys do. Besides, who else are you going to talk about this with?”

“It’s a thing you guys do?” Katara repeated, raising an eyebrow and frowning. Sokka had that sinking feeling in his chest that somehow, he’d fucked up. Katara raised her hands angrily, water rising behind her in a mimicry of the motion. He didn’t know if she noticed. “What’s that supposed to mean, Sokka? What, you’re too much of a strong, manly man to think about what your soulmate’s like? Too busy thinking about hunting and fishing and fighting with little toddlers to even give it the time of day, Sokka? Huh?”

Katara always had a tendency to wave her arms around when she was angry, to point and shout at the object of said anger. He watched the water warily as it rose and swayed behind her with the movements. Somehow, blessedly, it came nowhere near him and stayed in the ocean where it belonged. Did she know she was doing that? He should probably have a talk with her about this later.

“Katara, spirits! Calm down!” He raised his own arms up in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything by it! Really! I just meant that I know that’s something you’re interested in. Sorry.”

“Fine.” Katara lowered her arms in a huff, but turned her back to him so she was facing the water. She didn’t sound like she’d really accepted the apology, but if she was done yelling at him and accidentally threatening him with freezing ocean water, then that was fine. He would choose his battles. “You go first, though.”

“Huh?”

“Tell me about your soulmate!” She snapped, and oh he could hear the embarrassment in her voice as she shifted her gaze away from him and to the water. “You don’t really talk about it a lot. I always have to bring it up with you, but I’m curious. I want to know what you think he’s like.”

“What I think my soulmate’s like?” Sokka leaned back in the snow and stared up at the clouds. The sun was obscured behind them, and the sky almost looked like a mirror image of the snowy tundra he was sitting in. 

What did he think his soulmate was like? With the information he had, it was a hard thing to figure out. Honestly, he hadn’t given it as much thought as he should have. 

“I think he’s…probably serious. A real stick in the mud type.”

“Really?” Katara snorted, incredulous. “You want your soulmate to be a stick in the mud?”

“No, I don’t _want_ him to be that!” Sokka sighed, bringing a hand up to his head and scratching behind his ear. “I just think he probably _is_ that. Why else would I care so much about his stupid laugh?”

“Oh.” Katara hummed, raising her hands over the water. This time, nothing happened. Maybe she was too distracted by the conversation. Maybe she was tired. She dropped her arms again quickly. “I never thought of that.”

“Yeah.” 

“It must be one hilarious joke you tell to make someone like that laugh.” Katara turned her head and grinned. “I kind of want to hear it, whatever it is.”

“Don’t worry, as soon as it happens, you’ll be the first person I tell it to.” He promised. 

“Good,” she laughed, “I’m looking forward to it. So, what else?”

Sokka gave it some thought and rattled off a few good, generic qualities to appease his sister. He really had no idea what to expect from his soulmate at this point. Someone strong and brave who could hold his own in a fight was a given. Passionate and smart, too. Someone he could hold long conversations with and never get bored.

He didn’t really think he cared too much if his soulmate was handsome or not. He wasn’t the type to go for looks. At least, he liked to say he wasn’t. He had no proof either way.

If this guy was taller than him, though, they might have some issues. 

The last comment made Katara laugh and tell him what she thought her soulmate might be like, steering the conversation away from him. That was what he’d been aiming for. Sokka didn’t like to talk about his soulmate or even the concept of them that much, and everyone knew the reasons why. 

It was unfair because not everyone got one. It was too vague of a way to find them. He only knew they were safe if they didn’t meet. 

Sometimes, though, he really did just want to let go of all his cynical talk and meet his soulmate already. Not because he was willing to drop everything to fall in love with this person. He was so young, and he had so many responsibilities that took priority. He didn’t have time to think about romance right now. 

But sometimes, at night, he would stare at his soulmark a little too long and think about the words on his wrist a little too much. 

**_I would give anything to hear him laugh like that again._ **

He couldn’t help but think, somehow, that the thought wasn’t because his soulmate was a stick in the mud, or that he’d told a particularly good joke, or that his soulmate’s laugh was just that beautiful of a sound. 

He thought, maybe, that his soulmate was sad. And if he was as sad as Sokka thought he was, he would need that laugh as soon as he could get it. 

As much as he wanted to soothe his soulmate’s pain, though, he knew it would be better if they didn’t meet. Not for awhile, at least. Not until things were better. 

Would things ever be better? The war had been raging for one hundred years already, with no signs of slowing. Sokka’s whole lifetime could be spent in the middle of battle without a victor chosen. 

Or even worse, his life could end under fire nation reign.

No, if the spirits really had their best interests at heart, Sokka and Katara wouldn’t meet their soulmates for a long, long time. 

Katara was fourteen when she first met her soulmate. Well, when she and _Sokka_ first met her soulmate. It was a long time before either of them realized that, though.

The entire encounter was … odd, to say the least. It began like almost any other day. Sokka woke up and prepared to go fishing alone, but Katara had nothing to do and insisted on coming with so she could practice her bending some more. He said something stupid without thinking and incurred her wrath, accompanied by her waving arms and furious accidental bending. 

That was when the ice had cracked, and out from the ocean bobbed a glowing iceberg. 

There was someone inside it.

This didn’t seem like a weird or dangerous situation at all. Nope. Totally normal.

Katara’s first instinct, as the kind, sweet soul he knew and loved her as, was of course to run towards the danger. So, Sokka followed. 

The iceberg’s eerie glow illuminated Katara in pale blue as she whacked at the thick ice with his club. Sokka wouldn’t have even tried, it looked almost impenetrable to him. Somehow though, it gave. Like it was ready to open and unleash whatever it was shielding into the world. 

What it was shielding turned out to be a bald twelve year old boy and a giant, hairy animal. 

The boy landed on the ground, and between his too thin for the South Pole clothes and the fact that he was encased in ice mere moments ago, Sokka was pretty sure he was dead or going to die of hypothermia very soon. Katara didn’t seem to agree, and the kid with his head in her lap also didn’t seem to agree. Really, the only opinion on the kid’s possible death that should matter was his own, so it was fine if he totally wanted to disregard how nature and temperature and sense worked.

The boy opened his eyes, and in an instant he was on his feet. It took Sokka aback, he hadn’t even seen the kid move or change his body’s position in the slightest. One moment he was laying on the ground, the next he was standing upright. That’s not how movements worked. 

Katara was a lot less suspicious of this kid than he was, and he couldn’t understand why. She wasn’t naive by any means, but maybe in this case she was just too curious or trusting. That meant Sokka had to be suspicious for them both. 

The boy had these wide, vibrant grey eyes and the biggest grin Sokka had ever seen as he clasped Katara’s hands in his. “Will you go penguin sledding with me?”

Out of all the things the kid could have said, he wasn’t expecting that. From her face, Katara was just as surprised as he was. That made him feel a little bit better. 

They took the boy (Aang, he said his name was) back to their village, guiding his swimming bison in the right direction through the water. Aang claimed the bison can fly, but Sokka highly doubted that. Being stuck in the ice probably did some damage to his brain and he was just confused. 

Apparently, Sokka was the only one in the village who held any sort of suspicions about this frozen kid. Even Gran Gran seemed to approve of him, especially after he entertained the other kids for a bit and revealed himself to the tribe as an airbender. 

There hadn’t been any airbenders for nearly a century. It was one of the first attacks the fire nation made, a massacre on every single one of the temples that left no one behind. 

Or, from the looks of things, left exactly one behind. 

At some point, Katara and Aang had both disappeared. Probably to go penguin sledding like Aang had been begging her to do since he woke up literally an hour ago. Wherever they’d run off to, he wasn’t too worried about it. Katara deserved a chance to goof off, and from the looks of it Aang wasn’t too bad of a kid. 

Then the flare went off. 

Katara and Aang came back. They didn’t mean to do it, they were just exploring the ship. They didn’t realize anything on it still worked. It was so old, how could they have known? Sokka didn’t care about the excuses, he didn’t have the time to. He snapped something at them and told them to hide. 

The black snow fell. 

There was fear in his gut and a taste like metal in his mouth and it was all too familiar. 

The fire nation was coming. They would be here in minutes. He only had so much time to prepare. 

They weren’t going to take his sister. 

His war paint was on, and he was crouched at the ready to attack when the ship finally came crashing through their barrier of snow. Down came the gangplank, and down marched the soldiers. 

No. 

_Soldier._

There were more on the ship, of course, but the commanding officer was the only one that was making a move. Or at least, Sokka assumed he was the commanding officer. His uniform was different, and his face uncovered.

Maybe the fire nation thought his scar and scowl were scarier than their stupid masks. 

Maybe it was a choice on the soldier’s part, because he wanted his enemies to know his face before he ruined their lives. 

Either way, Sokka decided right then and there that he hated that face. 

He hated the rest of the guy too when he kicked him easily into the snow like he was nothing and kept walking. 

Sokka was not one to be underestimated or taken lightly. He had trained for this moment. He would stop the fire nation in their tracks and send them running back where they came. He would protect his family. 

Or he would die trying. 

Sokka struck again. This time, somehow, it was worse. The fire nation soldier broke his spear in his hand and jabbed him in the head with the blunt end before Sokka went down. The guy must have thought he was done with Sokka by then, because from his place on the ground he could hear the subtle clearing of his throat.

“Where is the avatar?” He demanded, voice booming but still rough despite the throat clearing. "I know you're hiding him!" 

Wait.

What? 

He must have misheard him, right? The avatar? 

"About this old?" The soldier grabbed hold of Sokka's Gran Gran and shook her by the shoulder a bit. "Master of all four elements?" 

Great, the fire nation sent their craziest soldier out to them and now he was manhandling his Gran Gran. 

He wouldn't let this slide.

"The avatar is dead!" He yelled over to mister delusional soldier. "He has been for awhile." 

The soldier released his hold on Gran Gran and showed down at Sokka. Before he could say any more total nonsense, Sokka threw his boomerang at him.

The soldier startled at the sudden attack and moved out of the way before it could hit him, watching it disappear into the distance. He turned back to Sokka, looking ready to say some kind of snide remark about his bad aim. Then the boomerang returned and struck him on the back of the head, sending him sprawling forward. 

That's what he got for underestimating Sokka. 

The boomerang wasn't enough to knock him completely off his feet, but it distracted him enough for Aang to slide into him on one of those penguins he was so fond of and knock the soldier into a snowbank.

Sokka couldn't decide whether he should yell at Aang for not listening to him or thank him for the help. For the moment he decided to just revel in the fact that it looked like they might actually win this fight now.

That is, until Aang revealed himself as more than just your average airbender.

"I'm the avatar." Aang announced. Sokka couldn't tell if he was lying or not, if he was it was one heck of a bluff. 

"You're the avatar?" The soldier seemed as blown away by the statement as Sokka was. As if he had any right to be shocked, since he was the one looking for the avatar. "But you're just a child!" 

"Well you're just a teenager!" Aang spit back at him.

Now that Sokka looked, he was right. This other guy, this crazy commanding officer with the menacing glare and who had kicked him out of the way couldn't be much older than Sokka was. The fact that he had been bested so easily by someone his own age made Sokka grind his teeth. Was the fire nation really that desperate for soldiers that they had to make teens high military command? Or was this guy some sort of noble who'd bought his rank? 

"If I come with you," Aang said slowly, "do you promise to leave this village alone?" 

"Yes." The soldier's answer was immediate. He hadn't even thought about it. He was probably lying. "If you surrender yourself to me, no harm will come to this village." 

That sounded like nothing short of a lie. When had the fire nation ever decided against needless destruction? 

Aang was as trusting as Sokka wasn't. He agreed to go aboard the ship without another word. 

Behind him, Sokka heard his sister shouting Aang's name as the ship departed. There was despair and anguish in her voice, but it was her voice and that was the part Sokka cared most about. His sister was still here. They hadn't taken her. She was alive. That was enough.

Or, that was enough until he really considered the implications of letting the _fire nation_ kidnap the _avatar_ , the closest thing they had to a hope of ending this stupid war. 

Plus, his sister seemed to like the kid.

They chased after the ship on Aang's flying bison (which could _actually_ fly, Tui and La, that was a shock) and boarded just in time to help the boy escape. The fire nation soldier and his compatriots were having a harder time keeping hold of Aang than they'd expected, judging from the way he kept slipping out of their clutches. 

Katara got to use her water tricks on someone who wasn't Sokka for once, freezing several fire nation soldiers in their place. Sokka was proud to say that he got a few good hits in as well, returning the head jabs to the scar faced soldier before letting him fall into the ocean.

The guy doesn't drown. He got back up onto the ship and shot fire at them as they rode off in the sky. The shots miss, but Katara's retaliation doesn't. 

She froze the soldier's feet in place on the ship. Sokka had never been more proud.

They escaped the fire nation, completely unscathed and leaving their enemies worse for wear. Now all they had to do was get Aang and Katara a waterbending master to teach them. Katara could help with some things, but she only knew so much. And she’d always wanted to learn under a master. 

Their best bet was the North Pole. It would be a long journey, but with no detours it should be a straight shot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my goodness!! Thank you to everyone who commented and kudos'd on this so far! I wasn't sure anyone was going to be as interested in this concept as I am, so I'm really psyched :D
> 
> Some notes about this chapter: SUKI IS HERE NOW AND I LOVE HER  
> I've never written her before but hopefully she's not too ooc in this. If she is I'm hoping I'll be able to get her character down better as the fic continues, since I want her to be a major player in this story. It's what she deserves. 
> 
> Sokka's gonna drink some respect women juice while on Kyoshi Island because that's their main export. Also!! I know they go to Kyoshi Island before most of the stuff mentioned in the first couple paragraphs of this chapter so just to be clear it was just a list of Some Places They've Been and the actual chapter is Sokka's Favorite Stop on the Way to the North. Just thought I would say that to clear any confusion. :) 
> 
> This chapter's a little short, but I hope you like it!

They took a couple detours. Some were … hit or miss for him. There wasn’t anything wrong with Omashu, really, but that had been mostly scary what with the whole using the giant stone mail carts as a slide that Aang then made more scary by using airbending to make them go at a breakneck speed. Then of course everything with Omashu’s leader being super eccentric and making him think he and Katara were going to die if Aang failed his weird tests.

Then it turned out he was actually an old friend of Aang’s and that part was nice. 

Well, nice for Aang. 

When they went to Aang’s old air temple … that one was bad. Sokka didn’t like thinking about that one. 

At least they got a new pet? Having Momo was good.

The best detour by far was Kyoshi Island. At first it had seemed like it would be a waste of time, Aang just wanted to go ride the elephant koi and have fun for a little bit. With everything that had been going on, Sokka figured it was probably okay, but there was no way he was riding one of those things. 

During what was supposed to be a short visit where Aang rode a big fish, they all got captured. They were ambushed out of nowhere, tied up and blindfolded before Sokka even knew what was going on. 

Someone asked who they were and what they were doing there. A girl’s voice.

Sokka opened his mouth to speak and immediately made a mistake. “Where are the men that captured us?”

“There’s no men here.” The blindfolds came off. “We’re the ones that captured you.”

Standing in front of him was a group of girls. Young women about his age, he guessed. They were wearing heavy makeup, faces painted white and lips and eyes winged with a bright, vibrant red.

_War paint._ Sokka's brain supplied first.

_On a man,_ another, quieter part of his brain said, _makeup, on a woman._

They were all wearing dark green dresses and carrying gold fans. No weapons in sight. How could these girls have possibly captured them? 

"We're the Kyoshi warriors," the girl said, continuing her explanation. Sokka assumed she must be the leader of this group, "we protect this island and honor the great Avatar Kyoshi through our style of combat with our fans." 

He knew she said it because of the dubious look on his face. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of combat. In his village, women didn't fight. Some of them were tough and headstrong, sure, and if they had to they could hold their own. Katara was proof enough of that. Still, they had better things to do, like watch the children and cook and keep the place running smoothly while the men fought. 

In his village, women weren't warriors. His village was all he knew.

The girl had her fan at his throat, and she was glaring at him. Sokka's heart felt like it had stopped and the blood drained from his face. That fan was _sharp._ Sharper than it had any right to be. Like a blade or a spear. 

"We don't take kindly to strangers here." She said, the anger clear in her voice. "Especially those who disrespect Kyoshi." 

Before Sokka could open his mouth and say or do something else that would get them into even deeper trouble, Katara spoke up.

“Don’t hurt my brother! He’s just an idiot sometimes!”

"We would _never_ disrespect Kyoshi!" Aang added, almost sounding scandalized by the idea. Then he paused before adding, "At least, Katara and I wouldn't." 

Thanks, Aang.

The girl with her fan to Sokka's throat turned her head, raising an eyebrow at Aang. She didn't seem like she believed him. A lot of people probably said the same thing to keep from getting beat up (or maybe killed?) by a bunch of girls. "Is that so?" 

"Yeah!" Aang grinned, as if he didn't understand what her clipped and measured tone meant. Like he thought this was a normal conversation. "It would be weird for me to show any disrespect to her, since she's a past life of mine." 

The fan faltered from Sokka's throat and for a moment he was worried it might nick him. The girl was obviously shocked. She probably had never heard anyone say that before.

"So you're-" 

"Yep!" Aang didn't even let her get through the question. He did some kind of airbending trick that let him slip out of his restraints and glided to the top of the pole they were tied to. "I'm the avatar!" 

He then proceeded to do that marble trick that Sokka thought was kind of neat at first, but got old really fast. It seemed to impress the people of Kyoshi island well enough, though.

The fan dropped from Sokka's throat completely. "Let them go!" 

Just like that, they were released. Kyoshi island erupted into celebration over the return of the avatar, surrounding Aang and leading him deeper into the village. Sokka and Katara followed behind the festivities, quickly forgotten in the wake of the news.

Forgotten by all but one. 

The girl, the warrior leader in a dress, bumped into Sokka purposefully. He turned to her, ready to launch into an over dramatized complaint of his injury when she shot him another look. It was a righteous fury he'd only ever seen on Katara's face before. Sokka closed his mouth. 

"You're lucky you're friends with the avatar," she said, "otherwise I would have fed you to the unagi." 

Before Sokka could reply, she walked off to join the other villagers.

He had so many questions he wanted to ask. What was on that fan that made it so sharp? How would you fight with a fan, anyway? Was that a common weapon in the earth kingdom or was it specifically used on the island? Was it hard to fight in a dress? 

All those questions filled his brain, but he had no outlet for them. Not while the leader still hated him. He would have to make peace with her if he was ever going to sate his curiosity about it.

There was one question he had that he didn't think he wanted the answer to, but he asked anyway.

Turning to Katara, he tilted his head and asked, "What's an unagi?"

The next morning he stumbled upon the Kyoshi Warriors in the middle of training. He'd meant to find the leader so he could apologize to her, even if he didn't exactly think he'd done anything wrong. If he didn't apologize, it was pretty clear he wasn't going to learn anything from her or the other warriors about earth kingdom combat.

Given how badly he'd been beat back home by a single fire nation soldier, he clearly needed to add some new moves to his repertoire.

The words all died in his throat when he actually saw them in action.

They were, in a word, _impressive_. The training started with them practicing stances and different moves. They were all facing their leader, copying in perfect sync and letting out war cries between every few strikes. The motions themselves were strong, fluid, powerful. Expertly practiced. They probably did this daily. 

He stood in the entrance, transfixed just by watching them move. At some point, the leader locked eyes with him, and he felt his face heat up with embarrassment. He’d come here to apologize and had gotten distracted so easily. How long had he stood there watching them for, anyway? 

The leader relaxed out of her stance and closer her fan, raising it up to the other warriors. “Time for a break, girls! Meet back here in ten minutes for some one on one sparring.”

The group all nodded and relaxed as well, breaking out of formation to talk amongst themselves. The leader approached him, and he felt himself unconsciously stand up straighter as she came. Whatever anger she’d held at him from his comments the day before seemed to have faded, which was good for Sokka. What was bad for Sokka though was the fact that under that anger was a confidence he’d never seen a girl possess. Maybe it came with being a leader, or maybe it was because she knew just how strong she was. 

Either way it stirred something in Sokka that he didn’t really want to think about too much right now. 

“Hey, listen, about before…” Sokka started to ramble before the girl could even open her mouth to talk to him. He had to get this off his chest now before he messed this up or said something dumb. “I’m sorry. I treated you like a girl when I should have been treating you like a warrior. Clearly, you know what you’re doing since you were able to capture us so easily. So, I’m sorry for doubting you. And if you wouldn’t mind … I mean if you’d be alright with it … could you teach me? How to fight like you do?”

The girl had looked amused by his attempted apology at first, but at his request Sokka saw her eyes widen in shock. She raised an eyebrow, her bright red lips quirked up at the corner. “You want me to teach you how to fight like a girl?”

Sokka swallowed back any stupid comment that popped into his head and gave a firm nod. “Yes.”

Now the girl’s composure was completely broken, a wide smile on her face. “Well, if you want to fight like a Kyoshi warrior, you’re gonna have to dress like a Kyoshi warrior!”

Sokka wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. 

The dress wasn’t as bad as Sokka thought it would be. Neither was the makeup. In a way, it did really feel just like war paint. 

The leader of the Kyoshi warriors was sitting in front of him, but he wasn’t able to look at her because his eyes were closed. He could feel her fingers pressing gently against his eyelid as she applied the red paint to his face. 

“So why do you guys paint your faces like this, anyway?” He asked quietly. “Not that I don’t see the appeal, we paint our faces before battle in the water tribe, too. But we paint ours to look like wolves and to blend in better with our surroundings. This seems like it has kind of the opposite effect.”

“In every depiction we have of avatar Kyoshi, her face is painted just like this. It’s a tribute to her.” Suki chuckled lightly. It was a pleasant sound that stuck in the back of his head. He could hear the smile in it. “Plus it looks intimidating if you wear it right.”

“Do I look intimidating?” 

“Oh, not at all.”

“Seems like everything here is a tribute to her.” Sokka commented, changing the subject smoothly.. “She must have been amazing.”

Her hand left his face, and Sokka cracked an eye open to watch her. She nodded, dipping her fingers back in the red paint. “She was. She made this island, you know.”

“Wait, she _made_ the island?” Sokka sputtered in shock. “How do you _make_ an island?”

The girl shrugged, a smile on her face. She gestured for Sokka to close his eyes again. “I’m sure being the avatar helped.”

Her fingers were on his other eye, softly smearing cold paint over the lid. “My name’s Sokka, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Sokka. I’m Suki.” He heard her close up the jars of paint, and then her hand was on his, helping him to his feet. “Welcome to the Kyoshi warriors.”

The girls were already outside sparring by the time Sokka was done getting ready. Suki took the time to teach him one on one, showing him some basic stances and how to hold his fan properly. Once he had the basics down, she proceeded to kick his ass in every way imaginable. 

“You’re doing pretty good, Sokka!” She encouraged after knocking him flat on his back for the third time in under three minutes. “I’m surprised you’re keeping up as well as you are.”

“Thanks.” Sokka replied sarcastically. Suki offered him her hand, and he took it. “I don’t know if I should be offended or not.”

“Don’t be,” she laughed, “that’s a compliment.”

Sokka couldn't help but focus on the way she laughed. It was a freeing, open sound. Something that felt like it happened more often than not. Suki was a serious fighter, but she knew how to have fun, too. The way she knocked him off his feet and then smiled with all her teeth was proof enough of that.

He couldn't help but think that she fit his description of what he wanted for a partner almost to a T. And for a brief moment, he thought about how great it would be if she was his soulmate. If maybe his soulmate mark could have left off the pronoun and let him at least speculate she was the one.

Or if there weren't such a thing as soulmarks at all.

But they _were_ a thing and Suki wasn't the one that was his. 

Then he remembered that it was probably a good thing that she wasn't his, because at the rate he was going whatever mushy thought that would've been tattooed on his skin about her was gonna happen sooner rather than later.

It was good that he wasn't able to doom her just by liking her too much.

Something must have shown on his face, because Suki was giving him an odd look as she helped him up to his feet. Then the sleeve of his dress pulled up a little, and his wrist was exposed. The wrist he'd just been lost in thought over.

Suki eyed it for a moment, a quick glance down that was averted just as fast. 

"Sorry." He tore his hand from her grip and pulled the sleeve back down, covering up the mark. There was heat in his face, thankful for the paint hiding the burning of his cheeks. "Maybe I should have kept my arm wraps on." 

"It's fine, I didn’t see anything." She waved it off easily. "Have you met them yet?" 

"Nope." Sokka shook his head. "I don't think he's anyone from my tribe. And I haven't met very many other guys my age yet while we've been traveling." 

"So your soulmate's a boy." Suki mumbled, almost to herself. Sokka tried to figure out the weight of the sentence, it could mean nothing or everything. 

“Yeah, he is.” Sokka nodded, there was no denying that fact. His mark said so itself. “But I- I like girls, too! Not just boys.”

Suki snorted, and Sokka could have slapped himself. Way to not sound desperate. Before he could say anything else or just wallow in regret all by himself, Suki said something he didn’t expect.

“Good to know.”

It threw him off almost as badly as her next attack did.

Their time on Kyoshi island came to an unfortunate end sooner than Sokka would have liked. The fire nation ship that had been tracking them steadily across the sea on their journey had found them once again. With it came the angry soldier, riding a komodo rhino for what must have either been an intimidation tactic or some kind of aesthetic thing. They definitely didn’t seem too useful in his quest to capture Aang. 

The Kyoshi warriors were quick to spring into action. They were a neutral zone, but even neutral territory was prepared for the worst in a war as devastating and all consuming as this. The soldier was just as fast to retaliate against any of their attacks, dismounting off his giant lizard and throwing fire from his fists.

Sokka once again felt a surge of pride in his chest as he attacked the Fire nation soldier using some of his newly learned moves. Suki had told him to use the enemy’s strength against him and knock him off balance, which was actually easier than he’d expected with the guy underestimating him and being weighed down by his own armor. 

Sokka felt a little less pride at winning when he realized the soldier might actually be stupid and not actually think about how he was attacking at all. At some point during the fight, the soldier had spotted Aang, who had a pair of fans in his grasp. _Aang._ A skilled _airbender_. With a pair of _fans_. The soldier ran at him anyway, apparently unaware that this was possibly the worst strategy in history. 

Aang channeled his airbending in a powerful blast with the fans, sending the Fire nation soldier straight through the wall of one of the huts. 

This all just set the guy off into more of a rage, which shocked Sokka because he didn’t know the guy could _get_ any angrier. Just how much anger could you fit into one teen firebender, anyway? 

If the size of the flames he was shooting were anything to go off of, the answer was a _lot_.

As much as Sokka hated to admit it, there wasn’t enough time to worry about the flames and smoke rising off the roofs of the houses in the village. For whatever reason, the guy wanted Aang, and he wasn’t going to stop his assault on the village until he got him or they escaped. They had to get to Appa fast. It was unfortunate, but he knew that he and the Kyoshi warriors might not be able to fend off a crew of firebending soldiers for much longer. Not when they also had their smoldering homes to worry about. 

So the three of them, Katara, Aang and Sokka, ran off towards Appa. The sooner they got off Kyoshi island, the better this would be for everyone. Katara and Aang were already on the flying bison when Sokka felt something grab his sleeve and stop him. 

“Sokka, wait!” 

Suki. 

He turned to her, face full of confusion. Before he could open his mouth to question her, though, she closed the distance between them. 

Her red lips planted on his cheek, almost cool against the heat he felt rising under them from his skin. 

“You were right when you said you should treat me like a warrior, Sokka.” She said as she pulled away from him, backing up a step. The red on her lips had faded a bit, and he knew the mark from the paint was visible on his face. “But I’m a girl, too.”

She waved goodbye, then, turning back to the fight and the fire slowly consuming her home. Suki was smiling, but it was sad, her lips pressed thinly together because she had to force it. Not the toothy grin he’d seen before. 

“Sokka, come on!” He felt Katara tug on his arm, trying to pull him onto Appa. “We have to _go!_ ”

He snapped himself out of his reverie with a shake of the head. They were leaving. He couldn’t afford to stand around frozen in place like this. He pulled himself onto Appa’s back, and they started to fly off. 

They were hovering not far from the island, but far enough from the fray that the flames couldn’t reach, when Aang got out his glider and dived down to the ocean below. Sokka leaned over the saddle and watched as the boy wrangled with something that rose out of the water. A giant, serpentlike thing that roared at the boy on its head. Aang rode it with as much skill as he had the elephant koi, but with his face set in a more serious expression. 

The thing, which Sokka assumed must have been the dreaded unagi Suki had threatened to feed him to, opened its mouth and shot a blast of water towards the island. The flames and the firebenders were sufficiently dowsed, and Sokka took some comfort in knowing they weren’t leaving Kyoshi island to burn. 

As they flew off, he thought he could hear the shouting of the angry soldier jerk down below. The guy must have been pretty worked up if he could hear him from all the way up in the sky. Sokka couldn’t see him, but the image in his mind of the soldier, armor dripping wet and rusting slowly and with his ponytail plastered to the back of his bald head and shouting indignantly as they escaped his clutches once again was hilarious. He almost laughed.

Down below, he was sure that Suki _was_ laughing, even if only to herself over the Fire nation's defeat. He felt that sound sticking in the back of his head, and he knew it like he knew his own name or the words tattooed on his wrist. 

He rubbed absently at his cheek, and it came off smeared white and red from his war paint and the kiss.

He hoped he would see her again someday. 

Soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! 
> 
> This is a soulmate slowburn AU first and a Suki stan fic second. 
> 
> Also Zuko will actually be called his name soon, I promise. He's not just gonna be "angry fire nation soldier" the entire fic. Wouldn't that be fun, though? 
> 
> I'm hoping to get a chapter up and posted (best case scenario) about once a week? I can't promise anything but that's the goal. 
> 
> Again, thank you for reading! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took so long, sorry. In my defense, I had a lot going on (unfortunately) and it IS pretty long so hopefully that makes up for it, lol 
> 
> tbh I don't even like the fortune teller episode that much but given the soulmark that Katara has...I gotta do it, man :/ 
> 
> Honestly this was pretty fun to write but also kinda tough because like... Sokka is a science man but he also knows that the spirits and stuff are real because he's got that soulmark going on and stuff so I was just like "idk maybe psychics are fake I guess" Anyway Sokka is just like "magic is real and the spirits DO guide us but do they speak through this random woman?? All signs point to nah"
> 
> Also for this chapter... we are gonna pretend I didn't already mention that Aang and Katara are soulmates. For the sake of chapter plot.
> 
> Anyway here's the chapter!!! Thank you for reading it in advance, hope you like it!!

Sokka didn't remember exactly when it happened, but at some point the "nameless scarred soldier with the stupid ponytail" who'd been following them around relentlessly got a name and a title. It's not one he was expecting. 

_Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation_ is the one who has been in hot pursuit of the avatar since day one, chasing them as if his life depended on it and was honor bound to it, as Katara later told him after the prince _tied her to a tree_ and proceeded to monologue his evil plan to her. Sokka didn't have the time to think about if it was weird or not that a prince was outside of the safety of home in the middle of a war. If anyone else were to find out his identity they'd probably kill him on sight first chance they got. If the prince got killed out here while avatar hunting, he'd deserve it. One less thing for Sokka to worry about.

What he _was_ worried about though was his sister's new penchant for rebellion. 

During their short time away from home, Katara had managed to land herself in prison, steal from pirates, and fall for a so-called "rebel leader" with bad eyebrows and a wheat stalk in his mouth whose idea of justice was to flood an entire village of innocent people. In that order. Of course, every time she did anything too crazy, she seemed to learn her lesson and leave the situation better than when she arrived. 

In the prison, she learned about some of the injustices of the world they lived in, and also how to start a riot. She lost their mother’s necklace at that point, the last memento Katara had of their mother, and Sokka was sad for her but hoped that the loss of something so important would be enough to keep her from doing anything stupid or dangerous.

He was very, very wrong on that.

With the pirates, she learned that stealing is never a good idea, and not to be jealous of other people’s talents because people learn at their own pace. 

When she met Jet, she learned not to trust everyone just because they were fighting the Fire Nation, that being angry and hurt over what the Fire Nation did was valid and justifiable, but not when it clouded someone’s judgement and made them hurt innocent people. He felt like they’d both learned that one, but for him it hurt a little less.

She also learned not to kiss weird boys, which Sokka was thankful for.

Sokka learned only one lesson during all of these events; 

If Katara did anything else, he was going to die of a heart attack.

In the middle of all this crazy stuff happening with his sister was yet another problem he didn't know how to deal with. 

The three of them at one point actually infiltrated part of the Fire Nation so Aang could talk to his past life, avatar Roku, at his temple. Which just so happened to be on a volcano. If that hadn't been bad enough, they had been chased there by both Zuko (no surprise there) and Zhao (actual Fire Nation military and somehow more troublesome than Zuko). In the end, Sokka and Katara were captured by Zhao and thrown into a prison cell. There didn’t seem to be any hope for escape. All they could do was wait for Aang to come to their rescue.

Hello, danger, come here often? 

Somehow, though, they made it out of the situation okay. A little shaken and worse for wear after being imprisoned and the volcano blowing up, but somehow, blessedly, gloriously all fine. 

Until Aang tells them what Roku told him. 

"There's a comet coming that's supposed to make firebenders more powerful." Aang explained, dejectedly huddled in on himself. "The firelord is going to use it to destroy the earth kingdom and win the war. If I want to stop him, I have to master all the elements before the comet comes in the summer." 

In the summer.

It was currently winter. 

That was less than a year. To learn every element. Sure, Aang knew how to airbend, but he could barely waterbend right now, and it was probably gonna be some time before he was a master. 

Then there was earthbending to worry about. How long would it take to find someone willing to train him? How long until he mastered it? 

Forget about firebending. There was no way Aang would be able to find anyone to teach him that. Maybe that was one they could forget about. 

If so, that freed up more time for the other two elements. All Sokka had to do was make a schedule and time everything just right. Plot the best course for travel and supply restocks. Having Appa around for transport was going to be a huge help. They could travel the entire world and Aang can learn all the elements over a few months. 

It was doable. 

They could do it. 

How big could the world even be, right? 

As it turns out, it doesn’t matter how big the world is, because no matter where they go or what they set out to do, they end up in avatar based shenanigans. Sokka and Katara both get sick after riding out a giant storm on Appa’s back as the three of them flew through the heavy gales. Somehow, miraculously, Aang was perfectly healthy. That left him the only one able to get them medicine, because this definitely wasn’t the kind of sickness you could just sweat out. 

Sokka didn’t know how much time he’d lost, but one second he was feeling awful, like his sweat was on fire and his mouth was dry and stale and he felt like he would blow chunks any minute if he’d actually had food in him. 

Then he was lucid with something cold and slimy in his mouth and he really did want to puke. 

Other than the nauseating taste of frozen frog filling his mouth (why, Aang?), Sokka felt perfectly healthy again. He was chugging down water and eating the nuts and berries Aang had gathered for them while Aang regaled them with the story of his journey to get the frogs. 

There was a healer woman with a cat who was an enemy of the Fire Nation (the cat, not the healer), a capture by Zhao, a breakout by a spirit who actually wasn’t a spirit at all, swordplay, archery, and of course, the frogs themselves. It was a harrowing and fantastic tale that kept Katara on the edge of her seat and personally made Sokka’s blood freeze. 

Yes, this was a fun story that Sokka did enjoy, but he wouldn’t have believed it was true for a second if anyone other than Aang was telling it. It sounded like a spirit tale too fantastical and dramatic to believe.

But it was true and that meant that Aang had gotten into so much danger while Sokka was busy being feverish and stupid that he’d gotten captured by the Fire Nation and almost died. He’d only gotten out of that scrape because of that masked spirit guy.

“Who was that fake spirit, anyway?” Sokka asked. “You made it sound like you know him.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s the biggest twist of the story! You won’t believe this! It was-” Aang’s enthusiastic tone ground to a halt, and he frowned, furrowing his brow. When he finally continued, his voice was quiet and more subdued. “Actually, I don’t think I should tell you.”

“What?” Sokka sputtered in reply. “Oh, come on! You’re just gonna leave me hanging like that, Aang? That’s not fair! We don’t keep secrets in this tribe, young man.”

“Sokka, you’re only a couple years older than him.” Katara said, rolling her eyes.

Aang laughed. “Actually, I’m technically older than you by a lot. You can’t call _me_ young man. You’re the young man here!”

“Fine, then we don’t keep secrets in this tribe, you _ancient geezer._ ” He corrected, unable to stop the grin from overtaking his face.

“What was that you said, whippersnapper?” Aang made his voice raspy in his best old man impression, raising a shaky hand to cup around his ear. “You’ll give me a bribe in a sneezer?”

Katara laughed. “What does that even mean?”

“Not too sure, young missy.” Aang said, screwing up his face in mock confusion. “Ask the lad over there.”

“Okay, okay.” Sokka waved his hand as he chuckled. “Fine, have it your way. You can keep your little secret even though it sounds like possibly the most interesting thing that’s happened since we stopped here. Next time we see him, though, be sure to thank him for me. And maybe ask him for some tips, I’d love to know how to deflect an arrow with a sword.”

“Sure.” Aang grinned, reverting back to his usual twelve-year-old demeanor. “I don’t think he’ll have any to give, though. I think the help was just a one time thing.” 

Sokka couldn’t imagine why someone who apparently knew them would only want to help the avatar once. Unless they had a reason they needed to stay where they were. What he really didn’t understand was why Aang would keep their identity secret from the rest of the group. Unless they were an enemy or something. But Sokka couldn’t think of any reason why an enemy would ever offer help to them, especially the enemies they were currently dealing with. Maybe it was someone from the Earth kingdom? Someone who couldn’t really leave the area so there was no way they could actually help or offer tips. Someone who would get in way more trouble than a normal person if it was ever found out. 

Who did they even really know in the Earth kingdom who would help them and be able to pull off moves like what Aang described?

Maybe it was King Bumi? 

Yeah, Bumi sounded right.

“Gotta say, I’m not shocked if it’s who I think it is.” He said, testing the waters. “Sounds like the kind of crazy thing he’d do. Still, how he managed to track you there of all places is definitely a mystery. I'm sure we'll see him again, though. Maybe I'll ask him about it myself." 

Aang's eyes went wide. "I'm surprised you figured it out, Sokka! But … I don't think he'll want to talk to you about it. I wanted to talk to him about it when we left, but he seemed pretty against it. We probably should just pretend we don't know and let him keep this as his secret." 

Sokka nodded. "You have a point there. After all, who knows what the Fire Nation would do if they found out he busted you out from under Zhao's nose." 

If the Fire Nation ever took over Omashu, spirits forbid, Sokka was worried about what they would do to King Bumi. If they found out he was friends with the avatar and saved his life from their flaming clutches? Well, whatever kindness they would have extended would be extinguished immediately. 

This wasn’t something he wanted to spend much more time thinking about. 

“Alright, now that we’re all healed and rested up, we should probably head out.” Sokka stood up and stretched. “We have to get back on schedule. Come on, guys, up on Appa.”

Katara crawled up on top of Appa without complaint, followed closely by Aang, who airbent himself up like it was nothing and settled in the saddle. 

“My shoes are gross.” Aang complained, toeing one off and sticking his tongue out at it. “Katara, could you steer Appa for me while I scrape all this muck off?”

“Sure.” Katara nodded. She moved to sit at the reins at Appa’s head. “Appa, yip yip.”

Sokka watched Aang as he picked up one of his shoes and started to pick at the dry, flaking mud with his fingernails. He had one leg tucked under him, and the other splayed out close to Sokka, where he was able to get an eyeful of Aang’s bare sole. 

Or … what should have been bare. 

There was something on the heel of Aang’s foot, standing out in stark contrast against the unblemished pale of his skin. Something that looked achingly familiar, but bizarre given who it was on. He felt his gaze drawn towards it, but he averted his eyes quickly before he could read it.

“Uh, Aang?” Sokka examined the sky above them. “Would you mind …”

“What?” Aang tilted his head in confusion. Sokka took the risk of looking at him, then down at his exposed foot, and then back at him. “Oh, this? Sorry, I forgot a lot of cultures frown on showing your soulmark to just anybody. The monks at the temple always said that a mark means that the spirits blessed you with a love that will last a _whole_ lifetime! That’s something to celebrate, not hide. None of us covered up our marks if we could help it. Of course, where mine is it’s kind of hard not to.”

“Yeah.” Sokka nodded slowly, unsure how to react. “I can see that.” 

Aang put his shoe down and folded forward, holding his foot and stretching so the words were even more visible. “You can read it if you want, I don’t mind.”

“No, no I’d rather not.” Sokka slapped a hand over his eyes to make sure there was no chance of him peeking. There was a part of him that did want to read it, but he refused to give in to the urge. “It’s nothing against you, Aang, I just don’t feel comfortable doing that. If I read yours then I feel like I’d have to show you mine and I don’t like people looking at mine. It’s personal, you know?”

“Oh.” Aang sounded a little disappointed. Sokka peeked through his fingers, watching Aang shift his sitting position so his other leg was folded underneath him as well. Sokka’s hand fell from his eyes. Aang looked at him and smiled as he continued to flake the mud off his shoe. “I didn’t know you had a soulmark, Sokka.”

“Yeah,” Sokka nodded, his hand moving towards his wrist, covered by his armwraps and further concealed by his sleeve, “Katara has one, too.”

Aang would have figured that out by himself eventually, though. 

His was a direct match for Katara’s. 

They landed on the closest island to gather more supplies before continuing their journey to the North. Thanks to Sokka's maps, he knew where the nearest town was located from where they landed and that the walk wouldn't take too long after they left Appa. No point bringing the giant flying bison everywhere they went if they wanted to stay anonymous and out of sight.

The thought of being anonymous went right out the window when they ran into a man being attacked by a hulking furry monster with a billful of razor teeth and sharp claws. And the worst part? The guy didn't even seem like he cared he was five seconds from being eviscerated. 

Obviously they had to do something about that. No reason to let this stranger die in a platypus bear attack because he was stupid. The three of them set to work trying to attack (or in Aang’s case, shoo) the danger away from the serenely smiling traveler. It didn’t take too long to chase the animal back off into the woods. 

Sokka turned on the traveler they’d just saved and immediately blew up at him. “What were you _thinking_!”

The man’s calm smile didn’t break in the face of Sokka’s frustration. “I was never in any danger. Aunt Wu told me that I would have safe travels today.”

“Well clearly your aunt was wrong!” Sokka said, throwing his hands up. “You were almost attacked! You could have died!”

“Yes, but I didn’t.” The man pointed out. “So Aunt Wu’s prediction was accurate.”

“The only reason you didn’t was because _we_ saved you.” 

The man nodded. “Just as predicted.”

Sokka bit back the urge to scream. He couldn’t talk to this stupid man with no sense of self preservation anymore. He was clearly beyond reasoning with. He backed up from the man and took a few steps past Aang and Katara, his hands gripping his hair and trying not to pull it out. 

“Predictions?” Aang asked. Sokka wasn’t facing him, but he could hear the way the boy perked up. “Who’s Aunt Wu? Is she psychic?”

“Aunt Wu is the fortune teller in my village.” The man explained happily. “Her predictions and communes with the spirits are always right and have led our village into prosperity. Everyone knows to listen to her.”

"Oh wow, a fortune teller!" Katara clapped her hands in wonder. "We should go visit! I wonder what she'll tell us." 

"Yeah!" Aang said excitedly. "It sounds like fun! And uh...helpful, for strategy war reasons." 

That last bit was clearly yelled at Sokka for his own benefit. He wasn't going to be convinced, though. It was a bad idea to go visit a fortune teller. Even if she turned out to be the real deal, which Sokka doubted because those were few and far between, seeing her would be a waste of time. What could she tell them that they didn't already know? 

Unless she had a surefire way to defeat the firelord, Sokka didn't care. They just needed to resupply and go. 

"We were going to resupply anyway," Katara said, as if reading his mind, "the village is probably close by, so it won't even be a detour or anything." 

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest and turned to frown at his sister. Unfortunately, his gaze withered under the excited wide eyes of the other two. He could already feel his resolve crumbling. This is how it always went. 

"Fine," Sokka groaned, his shoulders sagging, "we can stop for a bit and you can talk to the fortune telling scam artist." 

"Hooray!" Aang yelled as he and Katara celebrated their victory over Sokka. As if this didn't happen on a regular basis. 

"Before we go our separate ways," the stupid smiling man interrupted, "I was told by Aunt Wu that if I ran into a group of travelers, I should give them this." 

The man pulled a small umbrella out of his flowing sleeve and handed it to Aang. Aang accepted it gratefully, bowing as he took it from him. “Thank you.”

Without another word, the man departed. Aang grinned and examined the umbrella in his hands, opening it and holding it over his head. 

“See? This by itself is proof that she’s a fraud! The weather’s beautiful out, what are we supposed to do with this?” Sokka criticized. 

Out of nowhere, as if to spite him, there was a crack of thunder. The sky went instantly dark, and it started to downpour. Katara was quick to huddle under the umbrella with Aang, but Sokka stayed still where he was. He stewed in the rain out of both annoyance and spite. 

Plus there wasn’t any room for him under the stupid umbrella, anyway. 

The three of them headed out towards the village, Aang and Katara walking leisurely under the umbrella and occasionally knocking shoulders. Sokka stomped just a step behind and tried to ignore them as they giggled over the contact. 

He rolled his eyes at them, but said nothing.

How long will it take them to realize they're soulmates? 

He watched the two of them, chattering and practically skipping down the muddy path together. 

_**He really is a powerful bender, huh?**_ Katara's soulmark said.

 _ **He really is a powerful bender, huh?**_ Katara would think as she fell in love. With the avatar. The most powerful legendary bender in the world.

 _It could be any moment now,_ Sokka thought. 

He watched the two of them. Aang sneezed, his grip on the umbrella tight. He shot up in the air with the force of it and was swept a few feet ahead with the breeze. Katara tried to bend the rain over her head to stay dry, but it didn't work particularly well. She ran to catch up with Aang, who laughed as he wiped at his nose with his sleeve. His grin was wide and childlike, and Sokka could practically feel the exasperated fondness radiating off his sister as she scolded him.

 _Any moment now, Sokka thought, but not for awhile, still._

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

On the one hand, of course it was great that his sister had managed to find her soulmate. Because really, there was no denying it, not with the chemistry Sokka could already feel there (which made him feel kind of gross because that's his sister) and of course the odd placement of the soulmark. All signs pointed to yes. 

It was great to think of Katara, happy and in love. He knew she would experience it _someday_ , of course. The spirits had confirmed it the moment she turned ten. Just like they had with him. It was different to see it so clearly within her grasp, though. 

But he worried. He worried for her in the same way he worried about meeting his own soulmate. The moment she and Aang fell in love with each other and had that damning thought, the spirit's layer of soulmark protection would be gone. They would know each other as the pair they were meant to be, and in doing so would make themselves vulnerable. 

A love to last a lifetime. But who's to say how long a lifetime _was_? 

Sokka would have to protect them even harder than he was already, especially as the only member of the group who didn't know his soulmate. It would be all up to him. 

He shook his head as he ran to catch up with the two of them. He already knew it would happen eventually, it was best not to think about it too much for now. He had other, more pressing matters to deal with.

“You better not be getting your hopes up over this psychic mumbo jumbo.” Sokka muttered as he continued to be soaked. 

Actually, now that he thought about it, it was kind of rude of Aang not to give him the umbrella. Sokka just got over being sick from getting drenched in the rain. He’d had to suck on a frog and everything. Rude.

Clearly he just wanted to stick close to Katara. 

“I don’t know, Sokka,” Katara argued, distracting him from the thought, “the rain seemed like a pretty accurate prediction to me.”

“Okay, but weather’s easy. Anyone can predict the weather. Even I can do that much.” He scoffed in reply.

“Oh, _really_?” Katara turned her head and raised an eyebrow. She was giving him that look. The one he assumed all sisters must have, where she knew no matter what he said next in this conversation, she was somehow going to win the argument. The one where her eyes gleamed and her lip was upturned just the slightest bit as she egged him on. “Prove it. Predict the weather right now.”

“Okay.” Sokka rolled his eyes. This was an easy one, he would not be intimidated by the look on her face. He raised his hands up and waved his fingers and closed his eyes as if divining from the spirits. “I predict that it will continue to rain.” 

He waited a moment, cracking an eye open towards the dark sky as water continued to pour down on him. Sokka grinned triumphantly. 

“See, I told you-”

There was a clap of thunder. A sudden lightning flash. 

The rain stopped. 

The smile fell from Sokka’s face just as Katara’s laughter hit his ears. 

“Gee, Sokka,” Aang said as he closed up the umbrella and tucked it under his arm, “I wish you would have predicted that sooner. It’s so beautiful out now!”

He couldn’t tell if Aang had meant to insult him or not, but from the way Katara’s sharp, bubbly laughter only increased from there it was obvious how she was taking it. Sokka’s frown deepened.

“Yeah, well, you’re welcome.” Sokka huffed. “Now come on, I think I see the village up ahead. We don’t have all day!” 

He got a good distance ahead of them before Katara’s laughter finally died down, and the two followed in step behind him. 

The village in question was vibrant and bustling. There were merchants lining the streets as they wandered in. Sokka, having grown up in the Southern Water Tribe where new items that weren’t made of things hunted or gathered for yourself and then created by your hand, had no way to resist the luxuries of new things he could buy simply by trading some coin for them. Logically, he knew they should only be getting the supplies that they desperately needed. Rice, preserved meats, other foods that would keep and were easy enough to prepare. Maybe they would get some more rope, too. Could never have too much rope. 

But then every couple stalls something would catch his eye and he had to resist every urge to overturn their coin purse right there and empty it all out. 

Yes, he did deserve a new fishing pole. 

Maybe if they were going to be spending the next few months being chased by the Fire Nation, they should buy new clothes? The fabrics at this stall looked nice. Ooh, silky. 

How could the fruit on that cart look so delicious? Was fruit actually good? Had he been biased the whole time because of the limited fruit supply in the South?

He bought an apple while no one was looking and stuffed it into his bag. There was no way he would let anyone see that he’d bought fruit, of all things. Katara would never let him live it down. 

Katara and Aang had somehow resisted the siren’s call of stuff for sale and wandered away from him. 

“Sokka, come on!” Katara called in the distance. “We don’t have all day!” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” He yelled as he took one final look at the market. Sokka had to remind himself that it would still be here when he came back, but still there was a longing in the pit of his stomach as he turned around and left it. “Why are you in such a hurry? You know we’re here to resupply, right?”

Katara waved her hand dismissively. “We can do that after we get our fortunes told.”

“I don’t want to get my fortune told.” Sokka mumbled, rolling his eyes. “ _You and Aang_ want to get your fortunes told.”

“Come on, Sokka!” Aang bumped his shoulder with his and grinned at him. “It’ll be fun! Don’t you want to get some wisdom from the spirits?”

“Not really, no.” He admitted. Aang’s face fell, excited grin drooping to a small frown. Of course Aang would be upset to hear that, he’s the bridge between humanity and spirits. It was probably more important to him than he was letting on. “But I guess for the sake of research and strategy, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little spirit communing. Assuming this is even the real deal.”

“Even if it’s not, it’ll still be a learning experience.” Aang said, brought back to his old chipper self quickly. “As the avatar, I should be learning as much stuff as I can!”

“Really? Because you seemed pretty resistant to learning how to hunt and fish when I tried to teach you.”

Aang grimaced. “That’s different.”

“Anyway, the only stuff you have to be worried about learning is the elements.” Sokka continued, shifting from teasing to serious seamlessly. “Yes, we’re taking this break today, but after this we really have to double down and focus on the task at hand.”

Katara suddenly has a hold of his shoulder, shaking him lightly to face forward. “I think we’re here!” 

Sokka looked up at the building they’d stopped in front of. Given how much more impressive and grandstanding it looked compared to the others they’d walked by, he was sure she was right. 

“So do we just walk in, or-” 

The door slammed open with a loud thwak, interrupting his question before he could finish. A girl stood in the doorway, dressed in a pink robe and her hair done in two standing up braids. What kind of style was that? Was that typical Earth Kingdom? Or was she just trying to give herself more height? She _was_ pretty short, and she couldn’t be any older than Aang. 

“Welcome!” She greeted loudly as she bowed. “Aunt Wu’s been expecting you!” 

He heard Aang and Katara gasp in delight and shock at this announcement. Sokka, on the other hand, remained unswayed. He raised an eyebrow. “Oh has she, now?”

The little girl glared at him, but didn’t respond to his obvious taunt. Instead she turned a beaming, gap toothed smile to Aang and Katara. “Come in, come in!” 

The three of them followed her inside without another word. The little girl walked them down a hall and towards a room. Even though the hall was bright, he didn't see a single candle or torch lighting the way. Only natural sunlight seeping in through the windows. On the walls, placed between the many windows, were tapestries depicting all sorts of things that Sokka didn't recognize but knew were most likely spirity things. Because what else would you find in the hall of a supposedly spirits touched fortune teller? 

Sokka rammed into Katara and stumbled a few steps backwards, quick to regain his footing. "Katara, why'd you stop? What gives?" 

She wasn't looking at him, all her attention fixed on the tapestry in front of her. There was a small smile on her face. 

"Tui and La." She said under her breath, almost wistfully. Her hand reached out almost of its own accord to touch it, and Sokka's gaze followed where her fingers went.

He recognized the fish instantly. One black, one white, swimming in a circle around each other. He recognized them, of course he did, but he'd never seen them quite like this before. The thread used to weave them was the darkest black, deeper than the ocean depths on a starless new moon, and the palest white that was almost silver when the light hit it, like when the sun played on the banks of snow and made it sparkle in the midday. 

Sokka wasn't quite as transfixed by it as his sister was, but he stood just as still and took the image in, anyway. Here in front of him, in some Earth Kingdom coastal town he hadn't known existed until a few hours ago, was a piece of his home. Water tribe culture and history carefully hung on the wall as if it belonged there. 

Part of him wanted to pull a Katara and steal it. _This_ was water tribe. _He_ was water tribe. Rightfully, it belonged with them. Just like Katara had said about that waterbending scroll. It would be easier to get away with this time, too. He could sneak out here while Katara and Aang were getting their fortunes read and roll it into his bag with the apple. He would calmly restock the supplies and when they were done, they would run to Appa before anyone could stop them. There wouldn't even be any pirates chasing them this time. 

Katara's finger grazed the image in near reverence. He snuck a glance at her face, and was shocked less by what he saw, but what he didn't. 

Her eyes were filled with something, but there was no anger there. It was something soft, almost sad. An old pain hidden in such a young gaze. An old pain he knew all too well. 

They were water tribe. This was an image of their spirits. It belonged to them. Yes, in the purest, simplest terms the water tribe spirits belonged to them. 

But they also belonged to everyone else. The water tribe didn't own the spirits, nor did they own the ocean or its waves, pulled and pushed by the tides of the moon that their spirits controlled. 

They didn't own the moon just as the Earth Kingdom didn't own the land, or the Fire Nation didn't own the sun. 

They belonged to _everyone._

Sokka looked at the tapestry, at Katara's fingers gently stroking the silken arc of the fish, and he felt something sad and bitter fill his stomach. 

The spirits and their domains belonged to everyone. They existed in harmony, just as the four nations had. 

Then the Fire Nation attacked, and everything was different. Everything was thrown off balance, and it would never be right again. Never how it used to be.

He tore his gaze away from the tapestry and stocked off, grinding his teeth so he didn't scream in frustration. Behind him, he could hear Katara's light steps following after. Sokka didn’t look at the windows or any of the other pieces of art covering the hallway walls after that, choosing to keep his gaze resolutely forward.

The three of them were led into a waiting area. It was darker in the room than in the hallway, probably to make it seem more spooky or something. Or maybe being a fortune teller wasn’t that great of a gig and this Aunt Wu lady couldn’t afford candles. 

The girl gestured down to some plush green cushions on the floor. “Have a seat, Aunt Wu will be with you shortly. In the meantime, would you like snacks?”

“Oh no, thank you, we’re fi-”

Sokka threw his hand over Katara’s mouth. “Yes. Yes, please. Snacks would be great.” 

The girl’s eyes were on Aang, looking him up and down like she’d never seen a boy her own age before. Or she’d never seen an airbender before, which of course, was fair. He couldn’t fault her for staring. Aang stared back, clearly uncomfortable but smiling at her all the same.

The girl’s face flushed. 

“Hey,” Sokka cleared his throat to get her attention, “snacks?”

The girl jumped, her eyes finally leaving Aang and darting to the floor. She frowned and nodded once. “I will be back shortly.” 

With the girl gone, it was just the three of them alone in the room. 

Katara pulled Sokka’s hand off of her mouth and leveled a glare at him. He forgot he’d covered her mouth. Honestly, he was surprised she’d let him leave it there for so long. “Sokka, that was so rude!”

He shrugged. “She was the one who offered snacks. Who am I to pass up free food?”

“It was nice of her to offer.” Aang chimed in.

“I guess.” Katara rolled her eyes and leaned back on her hands. She perked up almost immediately. “What are you planning on asking the fortune teller about?”

Sokka shrugged. He didn’t have anything in particular he wanted to ask about. He turned the question to Aang, tilting his head curiously at the boy.

Aang stroked his chin thoughtfully, eyebrows furrowing. “Hmmm … I don’t know. I guess I should probably ask about the war? Or about how long it’ll take to master the elements?”

“Don’t even worry about that.” Katara waved it off. “That’s what Sokka’s for, he’ll ask about the serious stuff. What do you want to ask about?” 

“Oh.” Aang frowned, still concentrating. “I’m not sure. What are you going to ask about, Katara?”

Katara’s cheeks darkened a shade, and she looked away from them, down to her foot tucked under her. Her hand traced the sole of her foot in a way that he understood as stroking her soulmark. “I think I’ll probably ask about my soulmate. I want to know a little more about him.”

Sokka felt a pang in his chest. Sometimes he forgot things about Katara, about himself. It was easy to remember that Aang was twelve, and a lot harder to remember that he was the avatar and one of the most powerful benders in the world. In the same vein, he sometimes forgot that his sister was a fourteen-year-old girl. She was a kid, whose interests included playing with magic water, listening to their Gran Gran’s stories, and thinking about what her soulmark might mean. 

“That’s great, Katara.” Sokka smiled. “I hope she tells you something helpful.” 

“Yeah.” Katara returned his smile. “Maybe she’ll know when I’ll meet him! Or what he bends! Or maybe even what he looks like!”

She was getting excited just thinking about it, her hands clasped together at her chest as she babbled on and on about what she wanted to ask about. He was able to tune it out pretty easily, since he’d had this discussion almost word for word with her a dozen times before. His gaze drifted from his sister’s ecstatic face and over to Aang to gauge his reaction. 

Aang was looking at Katara, his gaze soft in a way that almost hurt. Like he was happy to see her so excited but also like it made him feel a little bad. Sokka thought he understood it. He wasn’t stupid, he’d seen the way that Aang looked at Katara when he thought no one was paying attention. He knew that Aang did his best to try and impress her or to make her laugh. How Aang just wanted her to look at him.

Being the only one who knew that the two were soulmates was almost painful. 

The girl came back with the snacks. She was carrying two bowls, one was full of bean curd puffs and the other fruit. She knelt down on the floor and put the bowls down between Sokka and Aang. 

The girl looked up at Aang and grinned. “Aunt Wu is ready to see you now.” 

“Oh!” Aang almost seemed startled by that. Sokka thought he must have been so wrapped up in Katara’s romance rambling to actually think about what he wanted to ask the fortune teller when his time came. “Uh. Okay.” 

The girl held out her small hand for Aang to take. He accepted it easily and let her help him up. “Come on.” 

She led Aang away, and it was just him and Katara left in the room. Sokka made the executive decision of moving the bowls between himself and his sister. Aang wasn’t even here, why should the snacks be closer to his empty seat? He pushed the bowl of fruit closer to her. Katara laid her hand on top of his before he could pull it away. 

“Hey, Sokka?” Her voice was quiet, just like it had been in the hall. This time, though, she was clearly talking to him and she wanted to make sure it was only him who heard. 

He felt the concern in the pit of his stomach and tried to fill it up with a mouthful of the puff. He swallowed it down and the bean curd helped nothing. “What is it, Katara?”

“I know you don’t really care about it as much as I do,” Katara spoke slowly, like she wasn’t sure how to say exactly what she meant, but was carefully choosing the words, “or maybe you do and it’s one of those things you don’t like talking about for some reason. But I think you should ask about … about your soulmate.” 

“Oh.”

That’s not where he’d expected this to go. Almost unconsciously, his hand found his wrist. His thumb brushed at the wraps hiding the mark lightly. 

“You can still ask all the other stuff!” Katara added quickly. “And you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. I just thought that we might not get an opportunity like this again.”

She had a point there. The likelihood of them running into another fortune teller was small, even a fake one. Sokka plucked another puff out of the bowl and chewed on it thoughtfully. He wasn’t sure what to say. 

Katara decided his silence meant that she should continue talking. “I know you’re skeptical about this whole thing, really, I get it. Even if it’s not real, though, what’s the harm? Whatever it is she’s saying, it’s not hurting the people who live here, and it won’t hurt us, either. This is just a break before we focus on the North Pole and then everything that comes after that.” 

Everything that comes after that being earthbending and then hopefully ending the war before summer. 

“We deserve a little fun. You deserve a little fun right now.” She finished, her hand moving to squeeze his wrist ever so gently. “I think it might be fun to get a little more information about your stick in the mud soulmate, even if it does turn out to be wrong.”

Sokka nodded. As much as he didn’t want to ask about him, he wasn’t going to argue the point with his sister. If she wanted him to ask, then he would do it. She was probably just as curious about his soulmate as he usually was about hers. 

Well, how curious he _used_ to be about hers. Hard to be curious when he spent every waking moment with the guy.

"Okay." He finally replied, plucking a piece of fruit out of the bowl and regarding it curiously. If he'd known there would be free fruit here he wouldn't have bought the stupid apple. Could he return it? "If you really want me to, I'll ask about him." 

Katara rolled her eyes in exasperation, but there was a little smile on her face. "Don't do it for _me_. Do it for you. You should only ask if _you_ want to." 

"I _do_ want to." Sokka replied immediately. He took a bite of the fruit, juice dripping down his chin. He didn't know exactly what it was, but the flesh was orange and soft and mildly sweet. He swallowed and was surprised to realize what he said wasn't a lie. "Trust me, Katara, I do." 

That seemed like enough to satisfy her, because after that she stopped asking. She picked a fruit up out of the bowl and proceeded to eat it slowly as they waited for Aang to come out. 

He returned not too much later, the girl pulling on his hand as she led him back into the room. The girl was babbling something, but Aang didn’t look like he was paying her much attention. Whatever that fortune teller said to him, it was enough to leave him looking a little more dazed than before. 

“-and that’s why I’m apprenticing under Aunt Wu and my friend Jun isn’t and is jealous of me. My name is Meng, by the way.” The girl added as Aang loosened his hand in her grip and collapsed onto his cushion. 

“I’m Aang.” He said absently, face crinkled in concern. Sokka handed him the bowl of puffs, biting back his curiosity as he let Aang process whatever he’d been told. 

“Hey,” the girl’s foot met Sokka’s leg lightly, drawing his attention up to her. Her voice was harsher now, none of the soft smiling and chattiness she’d had for Aang, “your turn.”

“Sure.” Sokka shrugged, holding out his hand for the girl. Unlike with Aang, she ignored it and pointedly did not help him up. He dropped his hand back down and rose to a stand by himself. “Let’s get this over with.”

The girl, Meng she said her name was, practically scowled at him as she started to lead him away. The distance was actually a lot shorter than he expected, apparently the room they were waiting in was right next to the fortune teller’s room. It was separated by a small connecting hall and a door, and that was it. What was the point of having this girl lead them in and out? It seemed like a waste of a perfectly good apprentice. 

The girl held the door open for him and bowed as he entered. After a moment, he bowed back. Sokka spared her a glance as he walked in. She was sticking her tongue out at him and didn’t even seem that flustered when she got caught doing it. As soon as he was in the room, she scampered off, letting the door slam closed behind her. 

Okay, maybe not a _perfectly_ good apprentice. 

He stuck his tongue out at the closed door before turning around to see the fortune teller herself. Sokka wasn't sure what he was expecting to see in the room's dim firefight (because unlike the others this one did have candles. Loads of em) but it wasn't this. 

The fortune teller, Aunt Wu, was sitting at a low table in the middle of the room. She was middle aged, the glow from the candles sharpening the lines on her face. And her face almost looked… kind. Even though she was clearly Earth Kingdom, it reminded him of the old women from his village.

"Hello, young warrior." Aunt Wu smiled and beckoned him forward. "I've been expecting you. Come sit." 

He wasn't shocked to hear that. He _was_ just waiting in the other room, of course she'd been expecting him. Sokka walked over to the table and sat. 

“So, what do we do now?” Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For you? I don’t think there’s much I can do.” The fortune teller said with a shrug. Her hands were hidden in her sleeves, she wasn’t even going to attempt to perform any of her tricks for him, it seemed. “I don’t even have to cast the bones to tell you what’s to come of _your_ future.”

“Is that so?” He frowned, crossing his arms in an almost mirror of the woman.

“Yes.” The fortune teller nodded once. “Your life will be filled with struggle and anguish, most of it self inflicted.”

Okay, now that was just mean. Sokka dropped his hands down, his shoulders sagging. “You didn’t even _try_ to predict anything, you just looked at me!”

Aunt Wu’s hands lifted from her sleeves as she shrugged once again. “Sometimes that’s all you need.” 

Sokka let out a long groan and slid downwards to the table, dropping his face onto the wood. She wasn’t even trying to convert him into believing in her. This whole thing had been as big a waste of time as he thought. 

After spending a moment gathering up his negative emotions, he lifted his head and sighed. 

“Okay. Fine. I guess I’ll take that prediction, even though it’s clearly _very_ wrong.”

Aunt Wu raised an eyebrow of her own. Sokka ignored it. 

“I told my sister I would ask about it, so here I am, asking about it.” He was gritting his teeth as he felt his cheeks heat up. He didn’t know how to ask in a way that wouldn’t be completely embarrassing for him. He wasn’t some lovestruck teenager! 

From the way the fortune teller’s lips pulled up into the smallest smile, though, he knew he was definitely coming across as one. “Yes? What is it you wish to ask?” 

He swallowed, fighting everything in him that wanted to sink under the table and disappear. He compromised with himself by not looking at her anymore. “It’s about my soulmate.” 

“Ah.” He could practically hear the smile in her voice. “Love, I should have guessed.”

She really should have. Fake fortune teller. 

“So,” she continued with an airy chuckle, “what is it you’d like to know?”

“I don’t know.” Sokka admitted. His face just kept feeling like it was getting hotter and hotter. If he were a firebender he would have burned right through this table. “Whatever you can tell me.” 

“I’ll need to see where you’re marked.” Aunt Wu said.

Sokka stiffened, sliding his hands under the table and hiding them between his thighs. He’d never shown his mark to anyone outside his family. 

“I don’t need to see the mark itself,” she corrected, noting his reaction, “just where it’s located.”

Okay. That seemed more doable. Sokka extracted his hand and turned it palm upward. With the other, he tapped at his wrapped up wrist. He still wasn’t looking at her. 

Gently, she took his hand in one of hers. With her other hand she stroked his wrist. The sensation felt odd, coming from a touch other than his own.

“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully, “I don’t think I can tell you anything too substantial on him. The spirits only allow me to meddle so much with their affairs.”

“What? So no name or physical description?” Sokka joked quietly, lifting his eyes off the table just the slightest bit.

Aunt Wu looked down at him and smiled softly. “No, I’m afraid not. I can tell you a bit about what kind of person he is, though, if you’d like.”

Sokka felt his stomach clench in a way he didn’t understand. He told Katara he would ask, there was no backing out of it now. Aunt Wu was still waiting for his reply, her fingers continuing to stroke his wrist. He swallowed back his doubts and nodded. 

“Alright, let’s see. Your soulmate, he…” Her fingers stopped moving, her thumb pressed right where his pulse was beating nervously against his skin, “he is devoted to his family, and loyal to a fault. He is prideful, and determined. If he wants something, he won’t stop until he has it.”

Sokka didn’t believe her, had to keep telling himself that this was a sham and it wasn’t real. That she was lying. Aunt Wu was doing the same thing he’d done to Katara when she asked him to describe what he thought his soulmate was like. She was just switching it up a little so the words felt less generic. That was all. He didn’t believe her. 

But with every word she spoke, he _wanted_ to believe her. 

“He is a warrior in his own right,” she continued. Her grip on his wrist was loosening, “and he clings to spirit tales like a lifeline.”

She pulled her hand away, leaving Sokka floundering in confusion over the last thing she said. What did she mean _clings to spirit tales like a lifeline_? Everything before that had made sense, it painted a picture of a stubborn warrior, similar to the image he’d conjured for Katara. A warrior who, like him, loved his family and probably fought for them. 

But if that were the case, how did someone who seemed so serious and goal oriented get himself entrenched in _spirit tales_ of all things? Sokka couldn’t wrap his head around it. Those were stories told to children to keep them entertained or help them sleep at night. No one actually believed them. 

Except apparently his soulmate. 

“I’m sorry,” she smiled at him, both her hands had found their way back into her sleeves, “that’s all the spirits have deigned to tell me. Meng will see you back to your friends now.”

Sokka stood up slowly, bowing his head to her as he did so. When he turned away from the fortune teller, the girl, Meng, was in the doorway waiting for him. He followed her out and was ushered back to the waiting area. 

Aang and Katara’s eager faces turned to him when he came back. He dragged his feet over to his spot and sat down heavily. He felt like he understood why Aang had looked so dazed after his fortune. He still didn’t know what to make of his. 

“So?” Katara grinned, shaking his shoulder, “what’d she say?”

“Oh, you know.” Sokka shrugged. “Things.”

The excited smile twisted to an annoyed frown as she whacked his arm. “ _Sokka._ ”

“I know, I know,” he sighed, “I’m still… processing.” 

“Processing?” Katara repeated. “That’s a good sign!”

Meng was still in the room, standing close to Aang but glaring over at Katara. She cleared her throat loudly. 

Katara startled, as if noticing the girl for the first time. Within an instant she was standing up and beaming. “Oh! My turn!” 

Katara rushed out of the room, leaving Meng behind in her excitement. The other girl huffed and glared at the space Katara used to be before following her. 

Aang scooted a bit closer to him, leaning over Sokka to grab a piece of fruit. "What did you ask about? Did she give you any good tips on how to defeat the Fire Nation?" 

Sokka froze. His conversation with Katara had rattled him badly enough that he'd completely forgotten to ask about that. 

Aang took a bite out of the fruit, the sound near deafening in the quiet. It broke Sokka out of his stillness and he slid to the floor with a groan, covering his face with his arm. 

"No," he finally replied, "she didn't give me any tips." 

Sokka reached for the bowl with the bean curd puffs, but his hand hit the bottom of the bowl. There was not a puff in sight. 

"Aang, did you guys eat all the bean curd puffs while I was gone?" Sokka moved his arm off his face to shoot the kid a dirty look. 

Aang only had the decency to look a little sheepish. "They were really good." 

"They were." Sokka agreed, pushing himself up to stand. "And now that they're gone I have no reason to stay here anymore. I'll be in the market if you need me." 

Aang frowned up at him, eyebrows knitting together and wrinkling his forehead. "Are you sure, Sokka?" 

From the corner of his eye, he could see the little pink blob that was Meng glaring at him, practically cursing him until he'd leave. "Yeah, I'm sure." 

Sokka left the fortune teller's and went back into the market. Picking up the essentials wouldn't take long, but he didn't know how long he'd have to wait for Aang and Katara to come out, so he decided to look around a little instead.

He was examining some pretty nice looking sandals when Aang approached him. He looked a little nervous. 

"Hey, Aang." Sokka held the sandal he'd been examining out to him. "What do you think of these? I've never seen a shoe that didn't completely cover a foot. I can't tell if it'd be comfortable having so much of my foot out in the open like that. Course, in the South Pole, you'd get frostbite if you left your feet exposed. Maybe it gets too hot to wear anything more insulated on your feet in the Earth Kingdom? What do you think, Aang?" 

Aang wasn't even looking at the sandal. He was playing with the hem of his shirt and biting his lip. "Sokka, what do you think girls like?" 

Oh. Okay. He was here for advice? 

"What do girls like?" Sokka repeated the question, putting the sandal down. He didn't need a pair of sandals, they looked like they'd be hard to run or fight in. "They like … stuff." 

Aang tilted his head. "Stuff?" 

Yes, of course, tell the monk with no earthly possessions that girls liked stuff. Great job, Sokka. 

"Yeah." He nodded. All he could do was double down on it at this point. "Like, stuff that makes them feel special. Jewelry or flowers or something." 

Aang nodded as if he understood. He turned his head to the distance, towards the mountain the village was snuggly nestled against. "Meng did say there was a rare panda lily that grew only at the lip of the volcano. Do you think Kata- I mean do you think _a girl_ would like that?" 

Sokka resisted the urge to snort. Katara would like anything Aang gave her. "Yeah, Aang, I'm sure she'll be thrilled with that." 

Wait. 

Did he say volcano? 

"Aang, what-" 

Aang wasn't listening to him, too excited by the prospect of giving something to the girl he liked. He popped open his glider and without so much as sparing Sokka a second glance, pushed off and flew away. 

That left Sokka all by himself to consider the sandal. In the end, he decided not to buy it. It seemed more like a leisure shoe than anything else and if there was one thing he didn't have it was leisure time.

What he _did_ have was time to look at the fishing rods again. Specifically, fishing line, since Aang got the last of it all tangled up for Katara in his last attempt to make her a gift. 

"Sokka!" Oh, there she was. Katara waved to him from where she stood at the fortune teller's door, a bright smile on her face. 

Sokka waved back as she rushed towards him. "So, what did she have to tell you?" 

"Oh, you know," she shrugged, a playful smirk on her face, "things." 

He rolled his eyes and swatted her arm as she laughed. "Okay but seriously, anything interesting?" 

Katara was beaming dreamily like the young teen girl she was. "She said he would be a powerful bender." 

Sokka stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "Well yeah? I could have told you that much. It's written right on you." 

"No, Sokka, you don't get it." Katara shook her head. "I kept my shoe on the entire time. She couldn't read the actual mark." 

Okay, now _that_ was interesting. Thinking back on his own predictions, Aunt Wu had said "he" a lot when telling Sokka about his soulmate. He didn't remember ever actually mentioning that his soulmate was a boy. 

"As cool as that is Katara, it's still not exactly new information. Did she say anything else about him?" 

"Not a lot," Katara admitted with a huff as she crossed her arms, "she said a lot of my questions were too specific to be answered because the spirits would only say so much about him. I didn't even get to ask all my questions because she said she had to get ready for the cloud reading ceremony." 

"Cloud reading ceremony?" Sokka looked up at the sky. There wasn't a lot to see. 

"Young man, could you put that fishing line back, please? I'm closing up shop for the ceremony." 

"Oh, uh, sure." He'd completely forgotten about the fishing line he was holding. He set it back down with the others. 

A quick glance around the market showed that the other vendors were following his example, putting their wares away and shuffling out from behind their stalls to gather around the fortune teller's home. The streets were far more crowded than they had been a moment before, presumably everyone in the village was here to spectate. In the bustle of it all, he and Katara somehow ended up in the middle of the crowd. 

They heard more than saw Aunt Wu come out. The people were so excited they started chattering to one another in hushed tones as soon as they saw her. Everyone's gazes were fixed between her and the clouds, though Sokka doubted they could see anything in them better than he could. 

"I predict," Aunt Wu began, her voice loud and carrying over the breeze as everyone finally settled into quiet, "that there will be a good harvest this year." 

Around them, the ecstatic whispering started up again. Sokka did his best to ignore it. 

"It will also be a good year for twins." 

To his left, Sokka saw two identical looking men high five each other happily. Hm. Good for them.

Sokka felt his hair ruffle in an unnatural breeze and heard Aang's near silent feet land beside him. 

"Hey, welcome back." He looked over at Aang, who was empty handed and frowning with concern. "What, no fancy flowers up there for you to pick?" 

"Huh?" Aang replied with a start, looking wide eyed at Sokka before shaking his head. "No, I didn't really look. I got distracted. Sokka, the volcano-" 

"I predict," Aunt Wu said, dragging Sokka's focus away from Aang, "that the volcano will not destroy the village this year!" 

Everyone clapped, and the group started to disperse. Sokka wondered if the stalls would be opening again now that the reading was over. He really did need new fishing line. Before he could wander over, though, Aang's hand gripped his forearm tightly.

"Sokka," his voice came out almost strangled, and his eyes were huge and pleading, "I was just at the volcano-" 

"Yeah, I know. Looking for a flower." 

Aang ignored him. "Sokka, there was lava bubbling right up close to the surface." 

"What?" A sense of dread filled his stomach. 

"That last prediction. It was wrong." Aang's grip somehow grew even tighter. "That volcano's gonna blow any minute." 

"Spirits." Sokka said under his breath. 

Aang's grip slacked, and his hand fell from Sokka's arm. "What are we going to do?" 

"We'll figure something out." Sokka reassured. "We always do." 

Sokka couldn't help but think that he'd been right all along. Aunt Wu wasn't a real fortune teller, and everything she said was a lie. But with the realization was none of the vindication he'd expected. Only disappointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Sokka is so smart and canonically a genius he's amazing 
> 
> Also me: Sokka thinks King Bumi is the Blue Spirit
> 
> Me, in the tags: oh yeah minor background kataang
> 
> Also me: Katara and Aang get a whole chapter to themselves at LEAST


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII AM SO SORRY I know I told some people that Zuko was gonna be in this chapter but then stuff got away from me.... I got distracted writing some lowkey Aangst in there on a whim and the rest just kinda happened (I did like writing this chapter though, even if I'm frustrated that I still haven't gotten Zuko in the fic like at all yet. Next chapter though, I promise. Zuko will be there and he will talk and do Zuko things). 
> 
> Also I have a special announcement at the end of the notes so if you don't read the notes generally please read that one if you feel like it 
> 
> Anyway!!! I hope you're not disappointed in this chapter and thank you for reading <3

Of course, they had no intention of just letting this village be destroyed by a volcano. According to Aang's calculations, they had a day or two at most before it erupted and engulfed the whole place in lava. That gave them a very limited time frame to get all these people evacuated to someplace safe. 

The first person Sokka and Aang had approached with the news was the merchant with the fishing line. He figured he could warn the guy while also purchasing what he needed. Kill two catbirds with one stone. 

"So," Sokka said conversationally as he examined the fishing line he'd been holding earlier. He wasn't sure what it was made of, since it was different from the materials they used at home, "is it possible for me to get two of these?" 

Aang elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Sokka!" 

"Ow!" Sokka glared at Aang, but the expression wilted when he saw the nervous look on his face. Still, he didn't need to hit him so hard. "I know, I know." 

He turned back to the merchant, accepting the coiled together fishing line and handing the man a few coins. Sokka tucked his purchase under his arm and said as casually as possible, "You need to spread a warning to the rest of the village to evacuate as soon as possible. That volcano's set to blow." 

The merchant gave an easy laugh. “I think you must have misheard Aunt Wu, young man. She predicted the volcano would _not_ destroy the village this year.”

“No, I heard her.” He replied. “But my friend here was just at the volcano doing some stuff to impress a girl and he saw the volcano looked pretty close to overflowing.”

The merchant looked past Sokka and over to Aang behind him. Aang gave the man a little wave and smiled. The man then turned his gaze back to Sokka and raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I know what you’re thinking.” Sokka waved a hand as if the gesture could dispel the look on the merchant’s face. “Why should you trust some random twelve-year-old over your most trusted fortune teller? Well, I can promise you that he is _very_ trustworthy, for reasons that I am less sure I can actually get into. Anyway, he says he saw it with his own eyes, and that sounds more believable to me than a lady looking up at some clouds and going ‘you know what? I think _that_ particular piece of fluff means that we won’t get lava’d by the giant volcano we built our village within spewing distance of for some reason-”

An elbow once again met his ribs, even harder this time. 

“Ow!” Sokka hissed, rubbing at the spot. It was beginning to throb from all the bony elbows being punched into it. “Why can’t you use your _words_?” 

“That merchant doesn’t look happy about you disrespecting Aunt Wu like that, Sokka.” Aang whispered back.

Sokka turned his attention back to the merchant, then. Yep, he really didn’t look happy. Not one bit. Sokka took a small step backwards. 

“Not that there’s anything wrong with building your village so close to an active volcano!” He sputtered, backtracking on his previous argument. “It’s a very uh … scenic view. Your dangerous volcano is very pretty. I get it. And Aunt Wu seems to know what she’s talking about! I’m sure nine times out of ten her predictions are spot on!”

Sokka thought he was being a little bit generous with that nine times out of ten bit. He was certain she was wrong about her prediction of his soulmate, at least. _Spirit tales_ , yeah right. 

The merchant’s frown deepened into a scowl. Oh, this was not going well. Sokka took another step back, raising his arms up in front of him.

“Listen, I’m just saying, maybe she read this cloud wrong. Even if she didn’t, isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? Especially in this situation?”

From the scowl that didn’t leave his face, the man didn’t seem to agree. Sokka knew when he couldn’t win an argument, even if the man hadn’t said anything for the majority of the discussion. He dipped his head low in a casual bow as he continued to inch himself backwards, out of the merchant’s reach. 

“Okay. Thank you for your time and for the fishing line, but I better be going now. Bye!” 

With that, he turned on his heel, grabbed Aang’s arm, and made a hasty retreat as far away from the merchant’s glare as possible. 

Everybody else they tried to talk to was just as big a bust. So, convincing with logic was out. That left only one real option. They had to convince these people in a way they'd actually respond to. 

They would have to make a plan. 

Luckily, Sokka was good with plans. 

The three of them sat around the campfire that night, warm and with their bellies full from the dinner Katara had made using up the last of their previous supplies. It was a clear night and the weather was unseasonably warm. Or maybe it wasn't. Sokka felt that _everywhere_ they'd been so far was unseasonably warm. Snow was supposed to be a year round occurrence, and seeing all the greenery was still a little jarring. 

"Okay," Katara stifled a yawn across the fire from him, "so what are you thinking of doing, Sokka?" 

"Hm." Sokka rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he stared into the fire, hoping it would give him some answers. "This is a pretty tough situation we're in. Clearly we have to do something about it." 

Aang nodded gravely. 

"I think we're all in agreement about that, Sokka." Katara replied, rolling her eyes. "But what?" 

He didn't have an answer yet. This was a harder issue than he was expecting to encounter on a simple supply run. He flopped back into Appa's fluff behind him and sank into it, his eyes drifting up to the sky. There wasn't a cloud to be seen, but somehow the stars here felt different than back home. Like the warm air dimmed them somehow. Or they were further away. High above was the moon, not full but halfway there. It looked small and distant. Again, not like home at all. 

"Hey," he wondered out loud, "how did Aunt Wu do that cloud reading, anyway?" 

"She was holding something when I flew in," Aang said, "I think it was a book? Maybe she was getting the cloud readings from that." 

A book, huh? If that was true, then this plan was pretty much made. 

"Hey, Aang, do you have any experience cloud bending?" 

"Cloud bending?" Aang repeated, his eyebrows furrowed. "No? Is that possible?" 

Sokka shrugged. "I don't see why not. Clouds are just water particles suspended in the air. It shouldn't be too hard for an airbender to swirl them up and reshape them, I think." 

Aang still didn't look convinced. Katara, always excited by the possibility of bending, raised her hand. "Maybe I could help! I mean, if they're _water particles_ then it makes sense to use a _water bender_ to help reshape them, right?" 

"Yeah," Sokka nodded, a giant smile overtaking his face, "I would say that theory _holds water._ " 

Aang snorted, but it almost felt like he was doing it to be polite. Beside him, Katara rolled her eyes. 

"Tough crowd." 

"I hope you have some better material by the time you meet your soulmate or that thought's _never_ gonna happen." Katara teased. 

At the mention of soulmates, Aang perked up. "Oh, are we talking about that now?" 

"I wasn't exactly done going over the plan yet but if you want to then, sure. We can take a break." Sokka shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest and getting more comfortable against Appa's side. 

"Great!" Aang said excitedly, his smile somehow even brighter than before. "I had something I wanted to tell you but I forgot about it with everything happening with the volcano and all." 

Katara tilted her head, the firelight softening the curiosity on her face. "What is it, Aang?" 

There was a brief flash of panic in Sokka's chest as he wondered if Aang had figured it out. If Aunt Wu had somehow filled in the blanks and told him that it was Katara who was his soulmate. It was too soon. He wasn't ready for that. Not yet. 

Aang, beaming with the brightest smile Sokka had ever seen, said the last thing he expected. “My soulmate’s alive!”

His ecstatic announcement was followed by silent confusion. Sokka found his eyes instinctively turned to his sister, his eyebrows knit together quizzically. Of _course_ Aang’s soulmate was alive. Katara was right there. Nothing had happened to her. 

Her eyes met his, and she frowned. Katara’s expression displayed the same bewilderment Sokka felt. 

“Of course your soulmate’s alive, Aang.” Sokka finally said, turning to his friend. Aang’s smile was still impossibly bright, rivaling the crackling fire between them. “Having all those avatar spirit powers and all, I’d think you would know how soulmate stuff works.”

“Yeah, I know.” Aang’s smile faltered, just the slightest bit. His big, grey eyes softening sadly. “But …” 

They could both sense Aang’s hesitation, his gaze falling to his feet. Sokka exchanged another look with his sister. He nodded once, giving her permission to broach the subject Aang had suddenly gotten so quiet about. 

Katara left her spot across the fire from Sokka and sat close to Aang. Her hand rested on his knee softly. “But what, Aang?”

Aang sighed heavily and leaned his head on Katara’s shoulder. “But I was frozen for a hundred years. I thought my soulmate was alive during the time I was _supposed_ to be there, which meant that she was probably dead by now.”

“King Bumi’s not dead.” Sokka pointed out quietly. “He’s the same age as you. A little on the nutty side, but definitely not dead.”

Aang nodded, his lip upturning slightly. “Yeah. Not everyone can be Bumi, though.” 

They were all quiet for a little while, the atmosphere grown heavy in a way Sokka hadn’t anticipated at the start of this conversation. Sokka wasn’t sure how to comfort Aang about this. Emotional support wasn’t his strong suit. The only person he knew how to comfort was Katara, and even then he sometimes messed it up. 

Whatever Katara was doing must have been working, though, because it was only a few minutes of strained silence before Aang took in a shaky breath and sat upright. “I thought I abandoned my soulmate, and that I’d lost the chance to be with her now. I also thought the spirits might be mad at me for doing that. They blessed me with this gift and I just threw it away.”

“You didn’t throw it away!” Katara said insistently, her hand moving from Aang’s knee. She pulled him close to her in a hug. “And you didn’t abandon anyone.”

“I know.” Aang replied, his words muffled by Katara’s shoulder as he sank into the hug. He closed his eyes. “It sometimes feels like it, though.”

After a prolonged minute where Sokka tried very hard _not_ to watch what felt like an intimate moment between soulmates, Aang broke away from the hug. His smile was back, and it looked genuine this time. “But everything’s okay now! Aunt Wu told me that my soulmate’s alive!”

“That’s great, Aang!” 

Sokka was finally able to find his voice and contribute to the conversation again. “Did she tell you anything else about her?”

“Nope!” Aang shook his head, he was so overjoyed he was almost laughing. “She’s alive, what more would I need to know?”

Beside Aang, Katara once again met Sokka’s eyes. There was an almost guilty expression in her eyes and honestly, he understood. Katara was always full of curiosity about her soulmate, and Sokka had succumbed to that same craving for information just earlier that day. Meanwhile, here was Aang, just happy to know that his soulmate was alive and that they would meet one day. 

“You’re right." Katara said quietly, her arm falling from his shoulders. "That really is all that matters. I was thinking about asking Aunt Wu a bit more about my soulmate tomorrow, but maybe I won't. She can't tell me anything I _need_ to know about my soulmate, anyway." 

"Actually, Katara," Sokka interjected, "for the sake of the plan, I'm gonna need you to go to Aunt Wu's tomorrow and ask her as much stuff as you can." 

"Okay." Katara agreed, but her voice betrayed her confusion. "Why?" 

Sokka grinned. "We’ll need a distraction." 

The plan was supposed to go something like this: 

They would head into town tomorrow. Katara would beg Aunt Wu for another reading, where she would ask anything she could think of. (That also included the questions Sokka had never gotten around to). While she was doing that, he and Aang would look for the cloud book. Once they had the book, they would just need to figure out which symbol meant "destruction of village due to giant volcano" and everything would be fine. 

Simple enough. Almost _impossible_ to mess up. 

So of course, they hit a snag almost immediately. 

"Can't you use your spirit connections to find the book?" Sokka asked in a half whisper over to Aang. 

"I don't think that's how it works, Sokka!" Aang snapped back in his own hushed tone. 

Neither of them had any idea where the book was. They'd been searching the place as sneakily as they could for at least twenty minutes, and they'd come up empty. Sokka knew they didn't have much time left, they had to find it fast. Who knew how much longer Katara could stall for? 

"Well you won't know until you try!" He argued, flinging his arms up in the air.

Aang rolled his eyes but didn't say anything back, instead taking a seat in his meditation position and closing his eyes. 

...now that Aang was actually doing it, Sokka wasn't sure why he'd been so insistent. He had to do all the searching _himself_ now. 

He kicked a rug in frustration, folding the corner in on itself. Well, at least he could say there was no book under there. 

"Don't mess up Aunt Wu's office!" A vaguely familiar voice snapped. 

Sokka froze. His back was to the door, but from the corner of his eye he could make out the smallest hint of a pink. The apprentice. Meng. 

He turned slowly, and his fears were confirmed. She was standing there, frowning and with her arms crossed over her chest. 

"Why are you in here?" She demanded. 

"We… got lost on our way to the restroom?" Sokka attempted to lie. Even to his ears, it didn't sound believable.

Aang continued to pretend to meditate on the ground instead of helping him. 

Meng's eyes shifted accusingly down to Aang. "He used that one yesterday when he was listening in on a reading." 

"Aang!" Sokka gasped, turning his head down to his friend. "You have to _tell me_ when we've already used up an excuse!" 

Aang, eyes still firmly closed and expression a practiced blank, offered a shrug that somehow still came off as sheepish. 

"And why is he ignoring me?" Meng snapped, stomping her foot. She seemed genuinely hurt by Aang's lack of response to her. 

"He's not ignoring you, he's meditating." Sokka insisted. "See, look at him! He's in the zone. Can't hear a thing." 

"Do you think I'm stupid?" 

Sokka fought hard against the urge to jokingly say yes. “Of course not! Aang really does meditate and he also has no idea what’s going on right now! Here, watch.”

He turned to Aang, who still had his eyes closed but was very clearly _not_ meditating. “Aang, I’m going to push you now. If you’re not meditating, stop me.”

Aang’s face remained unchanged. Sokka saw him subtly stiffen in anticipation. He decided right then that he might have to change tactics on the off chance Aang wasn't good at feigning surprise.

He kicked him in the shin. 

"Ow!" Aang's eyes shot open, and he tilted backwards on the floor before catching himself. "Sokka, what was that for?" 

Sokka's attention was on Meng. "See? He didn't see that coming or anything!" 

He then rounded on Aang. "Look, Meng's here! Talk to her." 

Sokka abandoned Aang to the agitated little girl as he continued to search the room. Unfortunately, he was still close enough to hear their conversation whether he wanted to or not. 

"I overheard part of your fortune yesterday." She said, her voice hushed and almost sad. "You have a soulmate." 

It wasn't a question, but Aang answered anyway. "Yeah! I do." 

"So… you don't like me?" 

Oh,this was getting heavy. Sokka did _not_ want to be here for this conversation. But where could he go? 

He eyed the doorway carefully, but Meng was blocking it.

"Of course I like you!" Aang insisted. "I don't know you that well, but you brought those puffs to us yesterday and you seem nice. I think we could be friends." 

"Friends?" 

Oh _spirits_ , that was a _brutal_ rejection. Sokka flinched in sympathy for the girl. Aang might not understand what he just did (because if he had then he would have at _least_ been gentle about this) but that still didn't stop that from being harsh.

"I should have known." She sighed dejectedly, her shoulders slumping. "Last week Aunt Wu said the love of my life would be a handsome, big eared stranger and then you showed up. It was too good to be true." 

Aang's hands went up to his ears, covering them self consciously. "What's wrong with my ears?" 

She didn't answer the question, instead asking another of her own. "Why are you here?" 

“We need to borrow something.” Sokka interrupted. The book didn’t seem like it was in this room, so he was done pretending not to listen. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Aunt Wu’s cloud book is, would you?” 

One of Meng’s eyebrows rose up to meet her hair. “Why?”

“We just need it.” He said, shrugging. He wanted to go into as little detail as possible. “It’ll be ten, fifteen minutes, tops. Then you’ll get it right back.” 

Her gaze flicked from Sokka’s nonchalant, purposefully schooled expression, and Aang’s big, pleading puppy frog eyes. She took a step back, unphased. Sokka was almost impressed by her willpower. “What are you gonna do with it?”

“Meng, listen.” Aang took a step closer to her, bridging the gap she’d created. “I was at the volcano yesterday, and it’s _really_ close to erupting. But we can’t convince anyone from the village because of Aunt Wu’s prediction yesterday.”

Her frown deepened, clearly even more confused than before. “How is the book supposed to help?”

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest. “We’d rather not say.”

“Meng, _please_.” 

She groaned and hung her head, Aang’s begging finally wearing her down. “You’re lucky you’re cute, even if you’re not the one from my prediction.” 

She stomped off before either of them could try to follow her. It wasn’t even a full minute later before she was back, carrying a thick looking book in her arms. She pushed it into Aang’s chest, glaring at his shoulder to avoid making eye contact. “Do what you have to.”

Aang shot her the biggest grin he possibly could. “Thanks!” 

“Come on,” Sokka grabbed Aang’s sleeve and dragged him out of the room, “let’s go get Katara.”

Katara learned exactly nothing helpful from Aunt Wu during their session together, but at least she was able to distract her. She told Aang all about what she’d talked about with the fortune teller while the both of them bent the clouds in the way Sokka directed. 

Apparently the image closest to “your village is going to be destroyed by a volcano” was the image of a giant skull that roughly translated to “doom”. Fitting. 

Sokka and Meng were both able to drag Aunt Wu out to see their handiwork. Even without the cloud book with her, the sign was pretty clear. Just like that, the announcement that Sokka had been trying to make all afternoon the day before finally went out. But by then, it was too late to get everyone to relocate. 

The volcano was even closer to erupting than they’d thought. 

The ground rumbled and shook in a way that was nauseatingly familiar, and the stench of sulfur heavy smoke filled the air. If they were going to do something, they had to do it fast. 

With Aunt Wu now backing them and the obvious evidence from the volcano itself, it only took a moment to gather up all of the village’s earthbenders as well as anyone who was able to dig so they could build a trench deep enough to divert the coming onslaught of lava. Sokka and Katara were deep in the dirt. Sokka dragged out as much as he could with a borrowed shovel. Katara tried to use her waterbending to help, but it mostly just turned the earth to mud beneath her and made her work the slightest bit harder. Aang was above them, air bending as much as he could carry out of the trench and flinging it out towards the empty woods. 

He wasn’t sure if this plan would work, or if the trench was even deep enough, but it would have to do. The ground continued to quake, and the first burst of molten heat escaped the top of the mountain and flowed towards them. Everyone scrambled out of the dirt and up towards the relative safety of the village, gathering on the far edges to watch while holding their breath, the air too choked from the smoke to be comfortably breathable. 

Sokka didn’t know when it happened, but at some point his hand found Katara’s. It was the only thing familiar to him, and it was almost enough to comfort. He squeezed, hoping it did the same for her. 

In the back of his mind, he knew they would survive. They both had soulmarks. They would live. Logically, death wasn’t even an option right now. 

That didn’t stop the terror from being real, though.

As the lava rolled closer and closer and the heat signaled sweat to his skin, Sokka dazedly realized that Aang wasn’t there with them. It was just him and Katara. 

Katara, who was gripping his hand so tightly that he couldn’t feel his fingers anymore. Only the near clamminess of her hand. 

“Sokka,” she whispered, pointing towards the lava and drawing his attention to a specific point, “look.”

And there was Aang, in the middle of the danger. His back to them as he faced the lava head on. Sokka felt his heart rate spike even as he told himself Aang would be just fine. He was the avatar. He had a soulmark. He would live. 

Even though he was being stupid and facing off against a volcano, he would live. 

Before Sokka had to do any more convincing, he watched as Aang took a breath so deep he could practically feel the air depleting around him. Then, in a giant puff of wind the likes of which Sokka had never seen before, Aang blew at the approaching lava with everything he had. 

And the lava cooled. 

Aang just went against one of the most destructive forces in the world and he tamed it with his breath. 

Sokka stared at the wall of solid rock that now crested over the edge of the village. Danger so close but no longer there. In Katara’s hand, his grip went slack with relief. 

Just like he had to keep reminding himself, Aang was the avatar. 

Aang was also his sister’s soulmate. 

Any moment now, but not for awhile still if Sokka’s thoughts were correct, they would both figure that out. Then what little protection they had from their soulmate bond would be gone, and it would be up to Sokka to keep them safe. 

But it wouldn’t be _just Sokka_ fighting for them. They were both more than capable of taking care of themselves. Aang was strong, and Katara was still learning, but he had a feeling that she would be, too. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they realized they were soulmates. 

He watched Aang descend from the sky and approach Aunt Wu, returning her cloud book to her. They were too far away for him to hear their conversation, but he could see them clearly.

He looked at Aang. Really looked at him. 

Happy go lucky. All powerful. Alone. Twelve. 

Just this once, Sokka would offer Aang a hand. Just a push. 

“You know,” Sokka mumbled so only Katara could hear him, “sometimes I forget just how powerful a bender Aang is.” 

Sokka watched his sister’s eyes go wide, her free hand covering up the gasp that escaped her. Katara was looking directly at Aang, but the look was full of shock, not the beginnings of a love about to bloom. No, this wouldn’t be enough for that. This was just the planting of a seed. 

It would take awhile. Maybe a long, long time. But one day they would both have their thoughts, and it would bloom. 

And when it did, Sokka would be ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the special announcement :D 
> 
> So, this fic is part of a series (I have a very loose plan of three fics for this- Sokka, Zuko, and then a final one that's both of them together) and based on how long I think this one might take to write by itself, I've decided I should probably actually start on the Zuko fic, which is gonna be Zuko's relationship with the concept of soulmates and his journey to meeting his, too. 
> 
> In conclusion of announcement!!! The next fic in the series will be started real soon, and hopefully I'll be able to have both of them steadily updating at around the same time. So that's something to look forward to. ;) 
> 
> Thank you for reading!! I hope you liked the chapter <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again!!! Sorry for the long wait, I know this one took awhile lol hopefully that doesn't become an ongoing thing 
> 
> So first things first: sorry if this chapter feels boring or like something you've read a dozen times before. Especially the ice dodging scene, honestly I spent a long time just looking at the transcript for this episode so it's definitely going to feel very very familiar. 
> 
> Second!! If you remember anything about this episode then you already know that Zuko is in this one. So spoiler alert, Zuko is in this one! And he says more things! Most of them are mean because this is season one and Zuko only knows how to yell right now.
> 
> The majority of the chapter is about Sokka dealing with some emotional stuff but ultimately deciding not to really delve too deeply into it, which is a topic that will be brought up again way later. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!! I hope you like the chapter <3

They flew for a day before they landed again, on yet another little island. They had to stop more frequently than Sokka had originally anticipated. Flying took a lot of energy out of Appa, apparently, he could only do it for so long before he had to rest up and refuel. 

The place they landed was near the shore of a lake. They landed near bodies of freshwater pretty often, now that he thought about it. Was that because Appa was thirsty, or because on some level, he was aware that Aang needed to practice waterbending? He watched as Appa waded into the water and opened his mouth, swallowing so much water that Sokka swore the water level actually went down. 

Yeah, it was probably just because Appa got thirsty. 

Not that it really mattered _why_ Appa stopped by the water so frequently. After Sokka finished setting up the camp for the night, he took a seat by his bedroll and watched Aang and Katara. The two of them were standing ankle deep in the water, bending a thin stream back and forth as some kind of warm up exercise. They were talking, too. He could clearly see their mouths moving, but he was too far away to hear them. Sokka had been splashed enough times in the past by both of them to learn his lesson about sitting too close. 

If Sokka was being honest, and if Katara asked it wasn’t like he would lie to her but he prayed to the Spirits she never would, watching the two of them waterbend was kind of boring. He’d seen it a million times before, it was nothing new. Yes, there was a little more variety and fluidity of movement now that they had that bending scroll, but it didn’t change too much about what they actually did. Maybe if he was a bender he would think this was more interesting. 

Of course, if he was a bender then he would be over there practicing, too. 

If he was a bender, he wouldn’t feel so left out all the time. 

Sokka shook his head, that was a dumb thought and he shouldn’t dwell on it. He stood up, brushing dirt off of his pants. He was too far away from the two benders for either of them to even notice his movements. 

“Hey!” He shouted over to them. “I’m gonna go look around the area and get some firewood or something! Feel free to help out whenever you guys are done splashing around!”

Katara waved to show that she heard him, then went right back to her bending. Sokka turned around and headed off towards the trees. There weren’t enough to really consider it a forest, it was more like a little barrier blocking the view of the field they’d settled in from the rest of the island. He started to pick up random sticks off the ground and was glad that he didn’t have to do any hunting tonight. Sure, it would have given him something to do, but there wasn’t going to be much living in such a thin amount of woods. Maybe a small bird or two? Some berries or something for Aang? 

Sokka looked around and shrugged to himself, he didn’t see any animals nearby and he didn’t know how to identify the edible berries in this area yet. Luckily they weren’t relying on his skills tonight. He bent down and picked up a bigger branch. 

As he bent, his eye glanced something in the corner of his vision that caught his attention. It was sticking out of the ground at an unnatural angle. Sokka crouched to better investigate. 

A spearhead. 

The part that wasn't lodged into the ground was black and cracking, it had been burned midflight. So, there'd been a fight here. Firebenders, obviously. The fact that the trees weren't all burned to the ground meant that they clearly weren't victorious. 

Sokka stood up carefully, almost falling over due to the imbalanced weight of the wood he was carrying. They probably shouldn't be staying here much longer, not when they were so close to the scene of a fight. Who knows if the Fire Nation would come back to retaliate after the loss? 

He walked back to camp quickly, he hadn't gone far so there was no reason to run. When he broke through the line of trees, he saw that Katara and Aang were standing close together at the water's edge. Their backs were to him. 

"I'm back!" Sokka yelled to them, dropping his sticks unceremoniously onto the ground between their bedrolls. "You won't believe what I found out there." 

The two turned around, but didn't move from their spot. There were wide grins on both their faces, and Aang's hands were behind his back. "You won't believe what _we_ found, either!" 

"Okay." Sokka nodded as he approached. They were acting a little suspicious and he didn't like it. "If you figured out a new splashy move and are trying to get me closer to use it on me, I won't be happy." 

Katara snorted and rolled her eyes. "You're never happy." 

Then the bright smile returned to her face, and she gestured over to Aang. " _This_ should get you pretty close, though!" 

Then Aang whipped out the thing he'd been holding behind his back. "Tada!" 

Sokka blinked down at the thing in Aang's hand. His brain was having a hard time processing what was in front of him.

It was a weapon. Achingly familiar to him but so out of place here in the warm, grassy field. The handle was thin, and about the length of his forearm. The blade itself was off white, curved and sharpened so no matter how it struck the blow would be deadly. He'd seen it before, and had even seen it used on occasion. Only on animals, though. 

The fact that it was here, in a place almost barren of game, meant that it was used for something else. 

"This is Water Tribe!" Sokka exclaimed excitedly, snatching the weapon out of Aang's hands and holding it out to better examine it. "Where did you find this?" 

“Right over there!” Aang pointed a distance from where they were all currently standing.

“Katara, do you know what this means?” He waved the whale’s tooth scimitar in the air. 

She nodded. “It might be Dad!” 

“I saw part of a spear over there.” He pointed towards the trees with the weapon. “Maybe if we look around more, we can find out what happened to the tribe!” 

Sokka ran off in the direction he’d come from, Katara quick on his heels. He showed her and Aang the burned spearhead, and the three of them split up to look for more debris from what Sokka thought must have been a pretty recent enough fight. Aang found another spear, Katara some burns marring the wood from the trees and patches of blackened grass. They followed the damage until they broke through the trees and down the hill, onto the beach. He hadn’t realized how closely they’d landed to the edge of the island.

He couldn’t stop staring out at the beach, almost uncomprehending. There was a grin pulling at the edge of his mouth and threatening to split his face in two. His heart felt achingly bright in his chest, like it hurt and it burned but it was _good_.

Katara was standing next to him, and he knew she felt the same way. 

On the beach there was a boat. Wood, small, and clearly Water Tribe. More than that, it was familiar. Sokka knew this boat. 

On the beach there was a boat from their father’s fleet. 

They made quick work of moving camp, laying their bedrolls out by the boat. Sokka sat by the fire he’d made after dragging all of his sticks back to the beach with him. His gaze kept flicking from the flames and to the boat and back again. He didn’t know where to focus, his brain was buzzing with questions. 

Whose boat was this? 

Why were they here, of all places?

Were they doing well? 

How was Dad?

Those and more raced around his head, none staying long enough for him to really consider the answers himself. Where Sokka’s nerves were manifesting in his brain going into overdrive, Katara’s was in excess energy. She paced around the fire and started cooking, and when that wasn’t enough, she wandered off closer to the boat and started to practice her waterbending some more. Just basic movements like bending a ball of water between her hands and passing it back and forth. 

The sun set and the moon rose, casting its familiar pale glow in the dark over the boat. If he imagined the sand as ice, looking at the boat was like being at home again. He couldn’t help but think about the last time he’d seen the boat moored on the shores back home. The last time he’d seen his dad. 

Four years ago, his dad prepared to go to war with all the other men in the tribe. Before the preparations were even underway, his dad sat him and Katara down and explained everything that he was planning. Every man over the age of sixteen was conscripted to go, which would leave Sokka the oldest boy in the village. Sokka was eleven. 

His dad told him that he would have a lot of responsibilities as the oldest boy in the village. He would need to learn everything he could about hunting and fishing, as well as proper skinning and cleaning whatever he caught. He would also have to learn how to fight with a variety of different weapons, so that when the time came and all the little babies in the village were old enough to learn, Sokka could impart his knowledge onto them, too. 

In the months before his dad left, they spent a lot of time together. Sokka already knew how to do a lot of the things he was being taught, but he would never say no to time with his dad. And maybe, just maybe, if he proved himself enough in his training, he wouldn’t be left behind. 

His dad praised him constantly, which only spurred Sokka further into his plan. In the middle of the night, when he was sure everyone else was asleep, he would practice putting on his warrior paint. The strokes of his fingers were clumsy, but sure. By the time his dad was leaving, he knew how to apply it almost perfectly. 

Katara and Gran-Gran had said goodbye to dad the night before. To avoid too much commotion and to get a good start on the day, the men were leaving at the early light of dawn. Sokka was never good at waking up early, so to make sure he didn’t miss them he stayed up all night. He sat in the snow near the boats, the paint on his face heavy and freezing. In his shivering arms he was clutching his boomerang like his life depended on it. 

When his dad finally approached the boats, the sky was just beginning to pink over the horizon. Sokka rose to his feet. His legs were stiff, but he stood as straight and tall as possible. His dad frowned down at him, but he looked more confused than upset. 

“Sokka,” his voice was deep, and he spoke so softly to him. Like if he rose it to his normal speaking level, he would wake the whole village, “what are you doing out here, son?” 

Sokka frowned determinedly back up at his dad. He had to crane his neck, he was so much bigger than him. Still, Sokka was undeterred. “I’m coming with you.” 

“Sokka.” He sighed, his shoulder sagging. “You’re too young, you know that.” 

“But you said I’ve been doing really good!” Sokka insisted, brandishing his boomerang emphatically. “I can throw a boomerang better than almost anyone! I can fish really well, and- and I’m pretty good with a spear! I can fight! I can help! You can take me with, I promise I won’t let you down!” 

His dad closed the small distance left between them. He stretched his hands out and pulled Sokka close. One of his gloved hands was on top of Sokka’s head, and the other patted his back. 

“You could never let me down, son.” His dad said, his voice barely audible. Sokka buried his face in his dad’s coat. “You were right, you’re one of the strongest and bravest people I know, but you still have to stay here. You have to protect your sister, and your Gran-Gran, and the tribe. I know that’s a lot to put on you, but I know you can do it.”

Being trusted with such an important task normally would have made Sokka feel proud, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t make himself feel anything about it. It didn’t mean anything if his dad was still leaving. There was a wet heat in his eyes that he tried to blink away. Warriors didn’t cry. 

But his dad just told him that he wasn’t really a warrior yet. A few slipped past his defenses anyway. “I don’t want you to go.” 

His dad squeezed him tight, and pressed Sokka’s face as close as he could to his chest. 

“I don’t want to go, either.” He admitted. “But sometimes, we have to do things we don’t want to do. When there are things more important than ourselves. You and Katara are more important than what I want. The whole tribe is more important than what I want. Do you understand, Sokka?” 

Sokka nodded. His arms were wrapped around his dad’s middle, his boomerang was lying abandoned in the snow somewhere. When he spoke, his voice was muffled by the coat. “You’re more important than what I want, too.” 

Sokka cried, his frozen paint thawing and dripping down his cheeks and staining his dad’s coat. Even though he was ruining his clothes, his dad still held him close and patted the top of his head. It wasn’t long before his dad left him for the boat. Sokka dried his eyes and watched him leave from the shore until the fleet was nothing more but tiny dots on the water. Then they were gone, and he was the only man left. 

He hadn’t seen his dad since. 

Next year, he was sure he would have seen him again. Sokka was fifteen right now, still too young to go to war, according to his dad. But next year, when he would be sixteen, then he could go. His dad would return, and Sokka would have a place on his crew. Just one more year, and Sokka would have been back with his dad.

Just one more year, and Sokka would have… 

...left Katara by herself in the village? 

That couldn’t have been right. He glanced over at his sister. She’d abandoned her bending to check on the rice, and was currently taking their little pot off the fire. 

Maybe they would have taken her with them? Katara was a bender, and though she wasn’t the greatest ever, she’d already proven she knew how to freeze enemies in place and she was getting better at that water whip thing she was doing. She could be an asset, it wouldn’t be that hard to convince dad to take her with them when they shipped off again. 

Just one more short year, and Sokka and Katara would have left with their dad… 

...and abandoned the village, leaving who in charge? Gran-Gran? She was too old to hunt or do much more than cook and make medicines and sew. 

One of the other women? Who had their hands full already with all the children in the village? 

The children who, by next year, would still mostly be under six? 

In that hypothetical situation he’d imagined, he’d realized the fact that he really did just abandon everyone. He took his sister with him, too, leaving the village defenseless. Just old people and women and children. He’d never really thought about the repercussions of him leaving, he hadn’t really had the _time_ to. Now that he did, he felt a pit open up in his stomach. 

Katara handed him a bowl, and he shoveled food in his mouth without tasting it. Was it a mistake to leave home? Should he have let Katara go by herself, after all? 

But he’d promised his dad specifically that he would protect Katara. And Katara was his little sister, he couldn’t just let her go with some strange kid all by herself. 

Should he have forced Katara to stay, too? Would that have been the right thing to do? 

To the right of him, Aang laughed cheerfully at something Katara said. Momo was on his head, reaching an arm out and trying to snag the bowl of rice Aang was holding as far away from him as possible. 

No, Sokka concluded. Leaving with Aang had been the right thing to do. Aang was his friend, and his sister’s soulmate. They couldn’t abandon Aang when he needed them. 

Aang was a friend, but more than that, he was family. 

The three of them sat around the fire for a long time, waiting for someone, anyone, to show up for the boat. As the night wore on, it seemed less and less likely that someone would come. Sokka’s heart sank like a rock. Maybe the boat was abandoned? 

He sighed to himself and started to settle in for the night. If someone wasn’t there for the boat by the time he woke up in the morning, it would be best for them to be on their way. Sokka had only just began to drift into unconsciousness when the sound of heavy feet in the sand jarred him awake. Sokka sat up and grabbed for the closest weapon. 

He held the weapon out in front of him defensively, but when he locked eyes with the intruder, he almost dropped it in surprise. From the look on the man’s face, he was just as surprised to see him. “Sokka?” 

“Bato?”

Sokka hadn’t seen Bato in years. For the most part, he looked just the same as he remembered him. There was that spark of life and familial warmth that Sokka wasn’t able to hold correctly in his memory, but felt so nostalgic and right when Bato hugged him and Katara with his good arm. 

Bato, their dad’s best friend and second in command of the fleet, led them all away to where he was staying. He’d been left behind by the rest of the fleet when he was injured in a fight against some Fire Nation soldiers. Right now he was staying at an abbey while he healed under the care of the nuns there.

There was a floral scent in the air that grew heavier the closer they got to the abbey. Sokka wrinkled his nose, and Bato laughed as he gathered the three of them inside. “Not a fan of perfume, Sokka?”

“I don’t think anyone’s _this_ much of a fan.” He replied, settling himself down on the ground. 

Bato shrugged as he started to build a fire. “The nuns make perfumes to offset the costs of the medicines they make.”

Sokka tried his hardest not to look at the swathes of bandages covering Bato’s arm and exposed side. 

“That makes sense, but that doesn’t make me like it more.” 

Bato laughed, warm and booming and familiar to the point that Sokka almost felt like he could cry. The laugh was infectious, though, and he and Katara joined in instead. 

“I missed you both.” Bato admitted with a sigh as his laughter finally died down. “Honestly, I’ve missed the whole tribe. How have things been back home?” 

Something snapped between him and Katara, and suddenly they were both launching into stories they’d both been hanging onto and waiting years to tell their long gone family. When Sokka filed away his adventures and rehearsed them in the dark of their hut at night, he knew there was only one person he wanted to tell them to, and he knew without even asking that it was the same for Katara. 

These stories weren’t originally intended for Bato to hear, but he was a close second. 

Somewhere between the story about Sokka’s thumb scar (he tried to remove a fishing hook with a different fishing hook, it didn’t end well) and the time Katara almost poisoned him and Gran-Gran the first time she was allowed to cook on her own, Bato made up a batch of sea prunes and passed steaming bowls of it to his guests. Sokka wasn’t normally a fan of sea prunes, he liked _meat_ and meat _only_ , if he could get away with not eating a vegetable then he would do so. Right then, though, with the smell of it wafting up and steaming his face and the almost pungent salty-sweet flavor of it on his tongue, he’d like nothing more than to sit with his tribesmen by the fire and eat nothing but sea prunes for the rest of his life. 

He ate the sea prunes and listened to Bato talk about life on the sea, and he felt like he was home. 

“You know,” Bato said as he collected their empty bowls, “I’m expecting a message from the fleet with a rendezvous point any day now. If you kids wanted, you could come with me. I’m sure you want to see your father again as much as he wants to see you.” 

There was a pang of longing in Sokka’s chest and an emptiness in his stomach that no amount of food could fill. There was nothing more in the world he wanted than to see his dad again. He glanced at Katara. Her eyes were shiny and she gave him a pained smile that directly reflected his own feelings. They were on the same page about this. 

They wanted to see their dad so badly that it physically hurt. 

“Of course, we’d love to.” Katara said. 

She cleared her throat and rubbed at her eyes, trying her best to look like she wasn’t on the verge of tears even though it was obvious she was. Both he and Bato ignored it like she wanted. Katara took a deep breath, and her smile seemed more genuine.

“But we can’t.” She continued. “We promised Aang we’d take him to the North Pole, so he could find a waterbending master.”

Sokka nodded in agreement. Sometimes, there were things that were more important than what he wanted. Getting his friend to the North Pole was just one of those things. Missing this chance to see his dad again hurt, but he would live with it. He would have to.

Eventually, late in the night, they slept. Sokka awoke in the morning to the smell of more familiar home cooking and the sound of Katara’s soft voice, accompanied by Bato’s lower mumble. He opened his eyes slowly, peeling the lids back as if it was an actual effort. Once he opened his eyes, he could no longer pretend he didn’t know where he was, or more importantly where he wasn’t. 

He took a deep breath, inhaled the scent of warm fish stew, permeated by the heavy, overbearing stench of the perfume filling the air. The combination made his stomach lurch with nausea. Sokka frowned and sat up. Despite the awful way the smells were merging together, he was hungry. 

“Morning, Sokka!” Katara said cheerfully as he shuffled over. 

“Morning.” He replied, yawning. “Where’s Aang?”

“He went out to forage for his breakfast.” Bato said as he stirred the stew. Now that Sokka was closer to the steam wafting off of it, his mouth was watering. “I didn’t realize he doesn’t eat meat.” 

“Yeah,” Sokka grimaced. After all the catching up they’d been doing, Aang’s dietary restrictions completely slipped his mind. “It’s an Air Nomad thing, I think.” 

Bato spooned some of the stew into a bowl and passed it to Katara. She took it gratefully, holding the bowl with both hands and sipping at the broth. 

“Bato was just telling me about when he and Dad went ice dodging.” Katara said conversationally.

He nodded. “Hakoda had to do it twice before he succeeded.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Sokka sat down cross legged on the dirt floor. Bato handed him a bowl as well. “I don’t think I’ve heard that story.” 

“It wasn’t his fault. His boat hit an eel shark the first time. He was lucky to make it out alive.” Bato smiled at the memory, his eyes and grin somewhere far away. “We still made fun of him for a year.” 

Sokka tried to imagine his dad in that situation, but all he could really manage was to laugh at the thought of it. When he finally saw his Dad again, he would have to remember to get the full story out of him. 

“And what was it like when you went, Sokka?” Bato asked. “You came of age for ice dodging last year, right? How did it go? Sink any boats like your old man?”

Sokka’s mood fell, and he frowned down into his stew. “I wasn’t able to go.”

Traditionally, ice dodging was a rite of passage someone Sokka’s age performed under the watchful eye of a parent. 

A watchful eye that hadn’t held Sokka in its gaze for years. 

“Oh, Sokka, I’m sorry.” Bato frowned, his expression a mirror of Sokka’s own feelings. Something like shame and regret, and a longing for home. “I know it’s not the same as what you wanted, and it’s a little unorthodox, but if you wanted…” 

Bato paused, swirling the contents of his bowl around and looking like he was about to reconsider what he’d wanted to say. As if Sokka was going to let it go that easily. 

“I’ve been flying around on a fluffy sky monster with the avatar the past couple weeks,” Sokka grinned, “I’m all about unorthodox.”

Katara snorted, and Bato chuckled. “Well, if you wanted, there’s no ice here, and I know I’m not your dad, but we’re all here and I have a boat.” 

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “What are you saying, Bato?” 

“I’m saying,” he reiterated, “that I can take you ice dodging. Right here and now, while we’re still all here together.”

Sokka smiled, his face feeling like it might crack from how wide it was. How did Aang always manage to smile so wide all the time? Maybe the muscles in his face were tougher, or maybe airbenders had stretchier skin or something. 

“Good morning!” Ah, speak of the spirit. “What are you doing up so early, Sokka?”

He pointed down at his bowl, sipping what was left of the stew. That was answer enough for Aang, who simply nodded and sat cross legged down between him and Katara. He was using his shirt as a basket, the cloth laden with berries. He popped a couple in his mouth. 

“Aang! Bato just offered to take Sokka ice dodging!” Katara said excitedly, shaking his arm and knocking a few of his berries loose from his fingers. “Isn’t that great?” 

“What’s ice dodging?” 

“It’s a water tribe rite of passage.” Sokka explained. “And if I do this, I’ll need a crew to help me out. You guys in?” 

Katara had already been smiling, but at the suggestion she perked up even more. “Of course we’ll help you, Sokka!” 

Aang smiled, too, but compared to Katara’s his was far less vibrant. He wasn’t even sure if it fully reached his eyes. “I’d be happy to.” 

Bato nodded his approval. “It looks like you’ve got yourself a solid crew, Sokka. We can start whenever you’re ready.” 

They were on the boat immediately after breakfast was finished. Bato had taken a seat on the deck, meanwhile Sokka was trying his best not to bounce in place in his excitement at the helm. 

“Ice dodging is a ceremonial test of wisdom, bravery, and trust. Instead of ice, you’ll be dodging those.” Bato gestured out with his unbandaged arm to the sharp looking rocks that dotted the shallower waters. “Sokka, you’ll be steering the boat and calling the shots, you’ll have to lead wisely if you want to get through this unscathed.” 

He understood that it was supposed to be a warning to take this seriously and that he should probably school his expression to go along with that, but he couldn’t fight the excited grin on his face. Bato was watching him closely, and at the sight of Sokka’s face he snorted. 

“Katara,” Bato turned back to the other two, “you’re in charge of securing the main sail. Winds can be brutal, so you’ll have to be brave. As for you, Aang, you’ll be controlling the jib. That’s a position of utmost trust. You’ll have to keep your hands steady, or we’ll all go down.” 

Aang nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “I know that! I’m the avatar, I know all about trust.” 

“According to tradition, I can’t help you.” Bato leaned back, getting comfortable. “You pass or fail on your own.” 

Sokka nodded. He looked out to the surrounding rocks and tried to come up with a plan on how to get through them safely. Over the years, he’d gotten pretty good at steering canoes through fields of ice and glaciers, but this was something on a different level. He’d had sailing lessons before, but those were years ago. Hopefully he remembered enough to get through this.

“Okay.” Sokka stroked his chin thoughtfully, one hand on the wheel. They had already pushed off the sand and into the water, slowly drifting. “Aang, ease up on the jib. Katara, keep the sails steady.” 

He couldn’t see either of their faces, but they did what he said. They were approaching the first set of rocks, almost quicker than he expected. He swallowed nervously. 

“Aang! Less sail. Katara, give him some room.” Katara shifted away, giving Aang as much room as he needed on the small boat. 

The boat shifted to the right and sailed easily between the rocks. Sokka felt his shoulders relax a bit. He was starting to feel a little more confident. This was something he could do. They were approaching more rocks.

“Aang, helm to lee!” Sokka called as he steered. “Helm to lee!” 

“I don’t know what that means!” Aang yelled back, panicked as the rocks came ever closer.

The waves were getting choppier, knocking Bato around at the front of the boat. Sokka’s heart was knocking against his chest so hard it hurt. 

“Katara, help him out! Switch for a second!” 

“Got it!” Katara let go of the rope for the mainsail for just a second, taking control of the jib from Aang. Aang, in sync with Katara’s movements, grabbed hold of the rope almost as soon as her hands left it. 

They squeezed easily between the rocks. “Nice job, guys!” 

Katara and Aang looked up at him briefly, beaming up at him before focusing back on their tasks. There was yet another influx of rocks just ahead of them.

“Sokka,” Katara called up nervously, “I don’t think we can get through those.” 

“I think we can make it.” 

Bato stood up shakily, holding on to the edge of the boat. “Sokka, you don’t have to do this! You’ve already proven yourself enough. Maybe we should-”

“Aang, I’m gonna need you to get some wind in those sails!” Sokka ordered. “Katara, bend as much water as you can between us and those rocks!”

They both nodded up at him. Katara got into position and moved her arms up, bending more water than Sokka had ever seen her do. Aang did the same, blasting air into the sails with a kick. He’d be proud of both of them if he wasn’t so worried. He trusted both of them to get them through this to the best of their abilities. Still, it was nerve wracking.

They cleared the rocks like they were nothing. Sokka let out a sigh of relief and turned the boat around, back to the shore. The four of them departed from the boat, Bato leading the way. Sokka followed him down, Katara elbowing him in the arm and grinning proudly back at him. Bato disappeared back towards where he was staying, gesturing for them all to wait by the boat.

Katara leaned towards him, speaking quietly so only he could hear her. “You did amazing, Sokka. Dad would be proud of you.” 

There was heat behind his eyes that he tried to blink away as he smiled back at her. “Thanks, Katara. You bent really well out there. He’d… he’d be proud of you, too.”

“Thanks.” Katara’s hand went up to her neck, where her necklace should be. She quickly put it back down again. 

Bato returned, carrying a little bowl full of paint. The three of them stood in a line, and Bato approached Sokka first. He looked up at the man, who was smiling proudly back down as he dipped his fingers in the bowl. 

“The water spirits bear witness to these marks today.” Bato spoke, his fingers dripping with purple paint. Bato’s fingers met Sokka’s forehead, and the paint was surprisingly cold.“For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise. The same as your father.” 

It took everything Sokka had not to touch the wet paint on his forehead or move to the water to actually see what it looked like. Bato took a step down the line, towards Katara.

“For Katara, the Mark of the Brave.” He painted a crescent moon onto her forehead. She beamed back up at him, her big blue eyes wide and happy. Bato smiled warmly back at her. “Your courage is an inspiration to us all.”

Bato reached Aang, and Sokka watched with pride as Bato swept an easy arc across his forehead. “For Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You are now an honorary member of the Southern Water Tribe.”

Aang looked down at his feet, frowning. Sokka felt his stomach sink. That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected from him. 

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean?” Katara asked, confused. “Of course you can!” 

Sokka nodded in agreement. They’d already claimed Aang as family a long time ago. As far as he was concerned, he was already a member of the tribe. Bato giving him the mark was just further confirmation. 

Aang backed away slowly, rubbing the mark off with his sleeve. “No, you can’t trust me.” 

Katara took a step closer to him. “Aang, what are you talking about?” 

Aang stared down at the ground, his hand jamming into his sleeve. He pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper and held it out to them. Katara took it from his outstretched hand and carefully unfolded it. “A messenger gave this to me for Bato last night. You have to understand, I was afraid you’d-” 

Sokka looked over Katara’s shoulder, at the paper she was holding. It was almost hard to read with the way her hands had started to shake. He knew what it was the moment he laid eyes on it, it was painfully, obviously clear. 

“This is the map to our dad! You had this the whole time, Aang?” Sokka snapped at him, hurt. “How could you?”

Aang didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t even meet his eyes, his head bowed. He shrugged.

The lack of response enraged him more than anything Aang could have said. He’d trusted Aang like he trusted his sister, like he trusted family, and Aang had used that trust to stab him in the back in the worst way possible. He felt like his heart had been ripped out and stomped on. 

“Well, you know what? You can go to the North Pole by yourself!” Sokka took one last glance at the map Katara was still holding before he stomped off in the direction it pointed. “I’m going to find Dad!” 

“Wait, Sokka,” Bato said, holding a hand out as if to stop him, “I think you should-”

“Katara!” Sokka snapped. “Are you with me?” 

Katara looked at Sokka, then to Aang, and then to the map in her hands. Her eyes were wide and searching and hurt, looking the same as he felt. She closed her eyes, clutching the map in her hands, and breathed in slowly. Sokka watched as her shoulders sagged, and she opened her eyes again. Her gaze was still hurt, but there was a hard determination in it. 

“I’m with you.”

Katara said a final goodbye to Aang before joining them at the abbey’s gate. She stared down at the ground as she came, but that wasn’t enough to hide the uncertainty and pain in her frown. Even though he was upset at Aang for what he’d done, he still felt a pang of regret for making his sister choose between the both of them. 

He was quick to bury that under his own hurt and logic. This was Aang’s own fault for keeping this from them. They’d left their home for him. They’d abandoned everything they knew for him. And what did Aang do the moment they finally got a taste of the home they’d been missing for so long? When they had a chance to see their family again? 

That wasn’t something that could be so easily forgiven. 

_Besides,_ Sokka told himself as he loosely gripped Katara’s arm and steered her away from the abbey, _Katara and Aang are soulmates. They’ll meet again someday, they’re literally bound to._

It was with that thought that he moved forward, his gaze resolutely pointed ahead of them as he followed after Bato. Sokka frowned as he marched along their path. He wanted to be happy that he was going to finally see his dad again after all this time, but his emotions were still so clouded by Aang and what he’d done. He couldn’t shake off all those negative feelings swirling inside him, blocking out any joy he could have felt from this, which just added on more bitter feelings towards Aang in the process. 

Out of anyone in the world, he would have thought Aang would understand! They left their home and their people and everything they knew to travel the world with him. They left that all because he needed them to. They treated him like family, and Sokka thought that was something Aang would have at least appreciated a little more since he-

Since he-

He didn’t have any of his own. Not anymore. Not since all of his people and everyone he’d ever known _died_ a hundred years ago.

And now they were leaving him, too. 

Sokka felt something almost like regret in the pit of his stomach. Was this a mistake? 

In the distance, something that sounded like a fox wolf howled. Katara’s head turned to where the sound was coming from, her shoulders slumped.

“It sounds so sad.” 

She was right, but he didn’t really want to think about it. “It’s probably wounded.” 

Bato stopped moving and turned around to look at them, making Sokka and Katara pause as well. “No, it was separated from its pack. I can understand that pain, I felt the same when I was left here to heal far away from my fellow tribesmen. They’re family, and leaving my family hurt more than my wounds ever could.”

There was something pointed in the way Bato said it. He knew that Sokka understood better than anyone what it was like to be separated from his loved ones. It hurt more than anything he could imagine.

And they’d just abandoned Aang, who had literally no one left in the whole world except for them. 

Tui and La, this really _was_ a mistake. 

From the worried tone in Katara’s voice, it must have shown on his face. “Sokka?” 

“We need to go back.” He said, sighing heavily. Sokka knew all along what the right thing to do was, but he’d just been so angry. Truth be told, he was _still_ a little angry. But he was a man, and he wasn’t going to let his emotions cloud his judgement over what he knew he needed to do. “I want to see Dad, but helping Aang is more important than that right now.” 

Katara’s eyes were a little wet, but her smile looked relieved. She hadn’t wanted to leave Aang behind at all, had she? “You’re right.” 

A hand clapped itself onto Sokka’s shoulder, and he looked up to see Bato looking at the both of them, pride in his thin smile and his eyes. “Your father will understand the difficult choice you had to make. I know he’s proud of you both.” 

Sokka smiled back, the familiar ache in his stomach returning. It would still be a long, long time before they saw their dad, but at least he would know they were doing something so important. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he would be proud. “Thanks, Bato.” 

He let them both go and pressed the crumpled map into Sokka’s hand. “Here. I know where to go from here. You should have this in case you want to find us. I’ll leave a message for you at the rendezvous point.” 

Another thank you and a hug later, Sokka and Katara turned back the way they’d come. They hadn’t gotten very far from the abbey, but now they practically ran back. They didn’t want to miss Aang before he left.

They were almost at the abbey’s gates when Sokka heard something. It was a kind of low, rumbling sound. Some sort of animal, maybe? He held a hand up to Katara beside him to keep her from moving forward. Whatever it was, it was close. He didn’t want to risk endangering her by letting her continue on.

There was a loud rustling behind him as something burst from the trees. Sokka turned around, eyes wide but ready for a fight. He’d misjudged where the sound was coming from, and now they were face to face with one of the biggest, ugliest creatures he’d ever seen.

On the back of that ugly creature? None other than the person Sokka hated the most. 

“ _Zuko_.”

Zuko jumped off the back of the furry monstrosity, scowling at the both of them. On the back of the beast, the woman that Sokka had barely even noticed snorted. 

“Is that your girlfriend?” She taunted, leaning over the thing’s head and smirking down at them. “No wonder she left, she’s _way_ too pretty for you.” 

Sokka was torn between being disgusted that the woman thought his sister would ever go anywhere _near_ Zuko or being pleased that someone who was supposedly Zuko’s ally was willing to insult him as much as Sokka always wanted to. Zuko was gritting his teeth, clearly trying to ignore the woman as he marched towards the both of them.

“Where’s the Avatar?” Zuko demanded. “Where is he?”

“We split up.” Sokka replied. “He’s long gone.” 

Zuko glared back at him. “How stupid do you think I am?” 

Oh, this was not an opportunity Sokka was going to miss. He could feel the grin tugging on the corner of his lip before he even got the words out. 

“Pretty stupid.” 

Sokka only had a second to revel in Zuko’s indignant expression before he was grabbing Katara’s hand and racing off towards the abbey. “Run!” 

They didn’t make it far before he was struck by something from behind. There was pain coursing through his limbs as they seized up and stopped listening to him. He hit the ground face first, Katara’s weight falling on top of him. 

Out of his peripheral vision, he could see Zuko’s pointy toed Fire Nation boots. In Sokka’s opinion, not only were they stupid looking, but they also didn’t look comfortable. He would have to remember to make fun of those next time he got the chance. 

“What are we supposed to do now?” Zuko said, his voice loud and annoyed. 

If Sokka was physically able to, he would have smirked triumphantly. The prince was probably getting fed up with his plans always being so easily thwarted by a twelve-year-old and his two “peasant” friends. 

Everything was obscured by a giant shadow, and there was something cold snuffling at Sokka’s prone body. He didn’t like that. 

“It’s seeking a different scent.” The woman said. “Perhaps something the Avatar held.” 

The nose of the creature made contact with Sokka’s hand, at the map he was gripping with all of his strength. Then the thing reared back, apparently that whiff was enough for it to catch Aang’s scent. 

"Alright." The woman snapped her fingers. "We got it. Back on the shirshu, angry boy." 

From Zuko’s grumbling, the comment was clearly aimed at him. Sokka was surprised when he didn’t immediately return to the hulking beast. Instead, Sokka felt a heavy weight lift off him, followed by Katara’s strained voice as she struggled to complain with her now frozen face. Sokka tried his best to move, to at least turn his head to see what was going on. Was Zuko taking his sister somewhere? Where did he think he was going? If he thought he was getting away with this without a fight, he had another thing coming. 

Or he _would_ have another thing coming, once Sokka could move again.

“Uh, nephew?” A new voice entered the conversation, one that Sokka was kind of familiar with, but not completely. He thought it was probably the stout old guy who followed Zuko around. “What are you doing?” 

“Yeah.” The woman added. “I thought you weren’t interested in the girl at all. You yelled a _lot_ about that.” 

“I’m not interested in her!” Zuko huffed agitatedly. “I thought if we had the Avatar’s friends, he might be more willing to surrender and come with us.” 

Katara made an outraged noise, and Sokka was inclined to agree with her. 

“Have we not tried this strategy before?” The old man asked. “Threatening his friends or holding them hostage?” 

“We have.” Zuko replied defensively. “It’s a good strategy!” 

It was not a good strategy, but Sokka wasn’t about to tell him that. He also couldn’t tell him right now even if he wanted to. 

“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing yet _another mistake_.” The old man sighed. “We’ve been down this path before, Prince Zuko, and it has yet to work out as you planned. I think it’s time you admit that strategy is not one of your strengths. Perhaps we should change tactics.” 

“Right now?” Zuko snapped back at him. “We don’t have time for this! We have to find the Avatar! Here, take the girl!” 

“Just drop the girl and let’s go!” The woman yelled, clearly getting annoyed at the bickering. 

“No!” Zuko shouted just as loudly back at her. “I’m not just leaving them lying around here! We’re taking the stupid Water Tribe kids with us and holding them hostage against the Avatar! Then we’re going to capture the Avatar and we’ll drop the other two off someplace else and that’ll be the end of it! That’s the plan we have right now and we’re going with it because we do _not_ have the _time_ to come up with another one! Now take this one so I can grab the other one and let’s go!” 

Spirits, that wasn’t even a plan. The old man was right, Zuko was _awful_ at strategy. What, he was just going to grab the two of them, find Aang, attack him, and then hope he won the fight? Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen. Especially not after he and Katara regained mobility. Sokka smirked in his head as he felt Zuko grasp him under the arms and started to drag him away.

Zuko was going to lose, and it seemed like everybody knew but him.

The map was taken out of his hands and shoved towards the woman at the front of the beast. He and Katara were draped like game over the back of the saddle. As if any of this could get any worse for them, Zuko was positioned right in front of them, with his back to them. They weren’t even worth keeping an eye on, as far as Zuko was concerned. 

The beast lurched to a start, and Sokka immediately felt himself slipping. He let out a strangled cry and hoped the ground wasn’t as far away as it looked, otherwise this was going to hurt. A lot. 

Before he could even fall halfway off the saddle and kiss the dirt, he was hauled back up onto the animal by the back of his tunic. Even after he was safely returned, the hand remained resting on his side and holding him in place. Sokka looked up and locked eyes with Zuko, he was begrudgingly grateful not to be thrown off the giant thing, but he didn’t want Zuko to know that since this was all his fault in the first place. He leveled the best glare he could at him. 

Zuko just snorted back at him, unphased by Sokka’s expression. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you _meant_ to fall off the shirshu. I guess I should have known, considering falling off big, dangerous animals seems to be a hobby of yours.” 

Sokka was still mad, but now also confused by that last statement. It must have shown in his eyes, because Zuko smirked back at him and explained, his tone derisive. “I saw you fall off the bison at Crescent Island, idiot.”

He’d almost forgotten that happened. Or, to be more accurate, he’d blocked it out of his memory as best he could. That was one near death experience he really didn’t want to think about, thanks. 

“Nephew,” the old man, who Sokka supposed must be his uncle, chastised lightly, “stop antagonizing the young man.” 

“He started it!” Zuko’s glare fell to his uncle’s shoulder, the old man wasn’t looking at him. “He called me stupid.” 

_You left the opportunity wide open._ Sokka wanted to say. _And you **are** pretty stupid. And while we’re on the subject, **you** started it when you attacked my village in the first place!_

Unable to move his mouth enough to speak, Sokka just grit his teeth in a quiet rage instead. 

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked, turning away from Sokka and leaning over his uncle to talk to the woman. His hand was gone, leaving Sokka even less secure than when he’d been draped over the back of the thing in the first place. “It’s just going in a circle.” 

Sokka was very pleased with that development. As much as he wanted to find Aang, he didn’t want to find him through Zuko. That feeling ended up being short lived as he spotted his friend gliding down towards them. The animal shot up to its hind legs without warning, and Sokka found himself rolling off its back with nothing to catch him this time. He landed on top of Katara and held his breath, waiting for the added weight of Zuko and his uncle on top of him. Fortunately, it never came. 

He turned his eyes to the side and saw that Zuko was somehow already on his feet in a fighting stance. He didn’t even look phased by what just happened. Before Sokka could wallow too much in his annoyance about it, someone was dragging him and Katara out of the line of fire and leaning them against a wall. He was able to witness Appa tackle the big animal with the poisonous tongue and he cheered inwardly at the sight. 

That left just Aang and Zuko, circling each other slowly and waiting for the other to make a move. Zuko, impatient hothead that he was, couldn’t wait very long and punched a fist full of flames out at Aang, who waved it away with a twirl of his glider like it was nothing. Then Aang sent a blast of air back at Zuko, which he quickly sidestepped before immediately sending another bout of fire back at him.

Sokka watched Aang jump, but his focus was distracted by a pungent smell under his nose that made him desperately want to sneeze or wrinkle his nose or do _anything_ , really. With a start he realized he _could_ wrinkle his nose, and he could also turn his head, just the slightest bit. He turned it towards Katara, whose gaze was focused upwards towards the roofs of the abbey. Apparently the fight had gone upwards while Sokka wasn’t paying attention.

“I think I’m starting to get some feeling back!” He said through gritted teeth as he experimentally wiggled his fingers. 

Sokka saw Zuko jump down from one of the roofs above them, landing perfectly on his feet as if it was nothing before immediately shooting fire back upwards at where Sokka presumed Aang was. Aang must have been running away if Zuko’s scowl and the tiles that landed on top of Sokka were anything to go by. 

“Ow.” Sokka mumbled, moving his still sluggish arm to brush the debris off of himself. “Yep, I felt that.” 

Part of the roof _explodes_ and then Aang is back on the ground, landing easily on the edge of a well. Zuko is of course in front of him in seconds, prepared to strike. The big animal follows Aang down, and he’s pretty much surrounded. When had it even gone up there? 

Aang and Zuko are talking, but Sokka can’t hear anything they’re saying. They’re too far away and there’s too much other noise going on around them. Zuko shoots fire at Aang, but he manages to dodge the blast by ducking behind one of the well’s support beams. Zuko shoots another blast of fire, which is once again easily dodged. 

Zuko’s enraged shout is loud enough to break through every other barrier of sound blocking it out as he jumps onto the side of the well opposite Aang and kicks the wooden support beams out of the way. He didn’t even use fire for that, just his leg. How strong were his legs that he could do that? 

That pungent smell under Sokka’s nose was gone, the absence drawing his attention away just as swiftly as its initial presence had. Sokka once again turned his head to the side, noticing the nun sitting beside him for the first time. He also noticed the little vial in her hand, the source of the smell. He leaned over and grasped her wrist loosely. 

“That thing,” he pointed towards the animal that was once again fighting Appa, “it sees with its nose. We should give it something to _really_ look at.” 

The nun tilted her head. “The perfume?” 

He nodded. “If we dump enough of it, it’ll probably confuse it enough so it’ll be easier to take down.” 

The nun nodded, standing up slowly so as not to draw attention to herself. “It’s worth a shot.” 

Sokka was still holding onto her wrist and used as leverage to help himself stand. His limbs still felt a little off, but he was able to support his own weight and feel it, which was good. As he followed the nun away towards where the perfume was stored, he saw that Aang had taken the opportunity to climb onto Zuko’s back like Momo and tried to grab something out of the firebender’s hand as he balanced precariously on the edge of the well. 

It would have been funny if it wasn’t so dangerous. 

He and some of the other nuns dragged out pots heavy with multiple scents of perfume and kicked them over into the courtyard where the fight was. The way the smells mingled was nauseating even to him, he couldn’t imagine the effect it must have been having on a creature with a nose as sensitive as that one. Katara, who had been saving up her strength and who was always willing to make their enemies problems even worse, bent as much perfume as she could and drenched the beast with it. 

Zuko shot out one last attack at Aang, two blasts of fire from a kick and a punch, which Aang once again dodged easily. Zuko didn’t have the time to send out more flame before the big animal’s tongue shot out from behind him and struck him down. He fell forward and hit the ground hard, paralyzed instantly. 

“Yeah!” Sokka cheered, unable to help himself. “Take that, you stupid jerk!” 

Katara grabbed his hand and was pulling him away, towards Appa. Sokka wasn’t finished yet, he needed to retaliate while the insults were still fresh on his tongue. 

“You should get a haircut, that’s a bad look for you!” He yelled as he was pushed onto Appa’s back. “And your boots are dumb!” 

The beast was still running around, blind and confused. Its tongue lashed out and hit the woman who’d been riding it. She slumped backwards into the arms of Zuko’s uncle. Aang hopped onto Appa and patted the bison’s head, and with a “yip yip” they were flying off, leaving the three paralyzed in the wrecked abbey below.

Safely away from danger, Katara raised her eyebrow at Sokka. “Your boots are dumb?” 

Sokka shrugged. “Well, they are.”

“So,” Aang said before Sokka could defend his choice of insult, “where do we go now?” 

“To the North Pole, of course.” Katara replied easily, as if it wasn’t even something that was up for debate. 

“And we’d better head straight there.” Sokka agreed. “No more detours. We’ve lost enough time as it is.”

“But what about your dad?” Aang asked, turning his face towards them. He was frowning, his eyebrows knit together in concern. “Didn’t you want to see him?”

“Of course.” He replied with a heavy sigh, slumping into the side of Appa’s saddle. “But you’re our family now, too, Aang. Right now, you need us more.” 

“And _we_ need you, too.” Katara added. “We won’t leave you.” 

Aang smiled at her, it wasn’t one of his big, beaming grins with all of his teeth. It was small, almost sad. “Thanks, Katara. I really wish I could give you a piece of home, though.”

“That’s alright.” Katara was quick to brush it off, apparently unable to tell that Aang was trying to be sly. He had something, Sokka could tell. “I’ll be okay.” 

“Still, even something small, maybe a trinket, or a piece of jewelry. Maybe something like…” Aang held out his hand, and _there_ was that beaming grin Sokka was so used to. “This?” 

Dangling from his fist was Katara’s lost necklace. Katara gasped in delight and snatched it from Aang’s outstretched hand. 

“Aang, how did you get this?” 

Aang shrugged. “Zuko asked me to be sure it got back to you.”

“Well,” Katara smiled, playing along, “that was very sweet of Zuko. Could you give him something from me when you see him?” 

“Sure.” 

Before Sokka could avert his eyes, Katara leaned forward and kissed Aang on the cheek. Aang’s face turned a shade of red Sokka didn’t even know was possible. Sokka, in reply, gagged and turned to the ocean below them.

Some things were more important than what he wanted, that was true. But as he listened to Katara giggle at Aang’s reaction and saw the look in her eyes as she finally put her necklace back on, he realized something else. No matter what happened, this right here was the most important thing in the world. 

And it was _exactly_ what he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyyy!! Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it! 
> 
> I'm hoping to do a speedrun through the rest of season one since I'm already expecting this and part 2 to get pretty long but we'll see how that goes. (p.s. if you didn't already know, I started up part 2 aka Zuko's pov and that can be read at anytime. It's gonna be updating about as often as this one, I'm hoping to get both finished around the same time hopefully) 
> 
> In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or comments that they don't want to leave in the comment section, here's a link to my [tumblr](https://destyni-is-me.tumblr.com/rel=)
> 
> Thanks again for reading and have a good rest of the day! :D


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello!!! Sorry it's been so long :( 
> 
> I've had a lot going on recently (and this chapter was kinda hard for me to write because I barely remembered ANYTHING from it at all ngl) and that is my excuse on why it's been awhile. Anyway before I get into anything else I had a few things I wanted to say: 
> 
> 1\. I just got accepted for college! I don't have my schedule yet but I'm guessing my updating for this fic is gonna be even more sporadic than before. Sorry in advance.
> 
> 2\. THANK YOU to everyone who's been reading this fic/this series so far!! Honestly? This is getting more love than I expected and I'm super grateful <3 sorry I know I'm not the best at responding to comments but every one I've gotten so far has been amazing and I can't thank you guys enough for being so cool and sweet and awesome 
> 
> Anyway, here's the chapter! I hope you like reading it <3

Sokka would be the first to admit that Aang was one of his best friends. He was his brother in everything but blood. And as such, he had that sibling knack of unintentionally getting under his skin in ways Sokka hadn’t known possible. 

He’d explicitly said _no more detours_ and yet here they were. On another detour. 

To be fair, it was more understandable this time. If the story they’d heard that night was more than just rumor then there might be _actual airbenders_ still out there, at the Northern Air Temple, no less. They were already headed that direction, anyway. 

Honestly, Sokka wouldn’t have been so upset about it if it wasn’t for the last time Aang suggested a detour. Sokka was trying his best to act like he was over what happened, after all, he wasn’t even the one who’d gotten hurt. Plus they _did_ end up embarrassing Zhao pretty badly, which was hilarious.

That aside, going to that fire festival was the one thing during this journey that Sokka regretted the most. He’d burned his mouth on the food and drink at the festival, and then Aang had tried to learn how to firebend from an ex Fire Nation soldier. 

Then Aang burned Katara’s hands. 

Sokka had never felt such white hot rage in his life. He had no memory of what really happened between the time Katara ran away crying and when she came back and dragged him off of Aang, insisting that her hands were fine now and that she’d healed them herself somehow. 

Katara, his beautiful, strong, amazing sister, who could hold a grudge better than anyone he’d ever known. Katara, who had every right to be mad at Aang for burning her. 

Katara, who pulled him off of Aang and told him to calm down. Katara, who _defended_ Aang against him and told him everything was fine. That she was okay. That it didn’t matter anymore. 

If Katara wasn’t mad, what right did Sokka have to be? 

So, begrudgingly, Sokka forgave Aang for everything he’d done and tried to let it all go. That being said, Aang was still on thin ice with him right now. Hopefully, whatever they found at the Northern Air Temple wouldn’t be enough to make that ice crack. 

Aang was bouncing on top of Appa’s head in excitement as they approached the temple. Sokka may have been a little mad still, but his anger was swept away by Aang’s palpable excitement. As the clouds began to part for them, Sokka inched his way closer to the front of the saddle to get a better look. When he actually got a look at the temple, his breath caught in his throat. 

There were people. They were soaring around the Air Temple like little birds, like it was the easiest thing in the world. If they got close enough, he was sure he would see them on gliders just like Aang’s. 

Tui above and La below, there were _airbenders_.

“Aang! Aang!” Sokka clapped a hand onto Aang’s shoulder and shook him vigorously in his excitement. “Spirits, can you believe this?”

“No.” Aang’s voice was quiet. More subdued than Sokka expected given the situation. Sokka pried his eyes away from the airbenders and towards Aang. The expression on his face wasn’t the hopefulness he thought he’d see. Aang was frowning, and his brow was furrowed. “I _can’t_ believe this.” 

Sokka stopped shaking him, worried about his odd reaction. “Aang?”

“These people,” Aang replied, his shoulders slumping in disappointment, “they’re not airbenders.” 

“What do you mean? Do you _see_ that?” Sokka threw a hand out, gesturing to the flying people flitting around the temple. “I don’t know if you know this, Aang, but that’s not exactly normal non-airbender behavior.” 

“They’re not airbenders.” Aang repeated emphatically. “I can tell. They’re gliding, but they aren’t moving with an airbender’s spirit.” 

Sokka wasn’t sure what he meant by that, if it was an Air Nomad thing or an avatar thing or something every bender felt. He wasn’t going to question it, though. He let the topic drop as they approached ever closer to the temple. 

One of the people flew close to them on their glider. Sokka noticed that the glider had a few large differences to Aang’s. Aang stood suddenly, his own glider in hand. Without saying a word, Aang hopped right off Appa and started to fly around between the other people. 

Sokka took it upon himself to guide Appa down to the temple below.

Almost instantaneously, Appa was surrounded by a group of gliding children coming in for a landing. Sokka watched them approach slowly, oohing aahing at the bison as they reached out their hands to pet him. Appa didn't seem to mind. 

Katara climbed down from Appa's back and started talking to the kids. Sokka tuned whatever they were discussing out in favor of observing the gliders. If what Aang said was true and these people really _weren't_ airbenders, how were they able to fly so easily? How long could they stay up in the air for? Clearly right now they were being used for recreation, but could they serve a practical purpose? 

"Wow!" One of the kids shouted excitedly, drawing Sokka's attention away from the glider. "Look at Teo go!" 

Sokka looked up just in time to see the kid on the glider finish up a drawing of a frowning person that could only be Aang. It was a pretty good likeness, in Sokka's opinion. 

Aang and the other kid came in for a landing, and Aang's expression matched the drawing so perfectly that Sokka had to hold back a laugh. His attention was drawn away from him and towards the other kid when he saw the children swarm him like they had Appa. 

The kid was sitting in what looked like a chair, but instead of legs there were wheels attached and there was a place for his feet to rest. Sokka watched in fascination as the kid detached the wings of his glider from his chair, someone else's hands reaching out eagerly to take them. The kid smiled brightly at Aang as he pushed his goggles off his face and up into his windswept hair. 

"Hi!" The kid's attention was fully on Aang. "I'm Teo. I've never seen gliding like that before, it was pretty impressive! How did you fly like that up against the wall?" 

"It's an airbending move." Aang still sounded a little upset, but he demonstrated regardless. He created his air scooter with ease and did a quick lap around Appa. 

Teo was clearly awed. "You're an airbender?" 

Aang stepped down from his air scooter and nodded. "Yep." 

"So you're the avatar, then?" 

Aang nodded again. 

Before they could continue their conversation, Sokka couldn’t stop himself from interrupting. “Your glider’s so cool! How does it work, exactly?”

“Thanks!” Teo’s attention was stolen easily away from Aang and over to Sokka. “I’m not sure how it works for sure, because I don’t understand all of the mechanics behind it. But if you think _this_ is good, wait until you see everything else my dad designed.” 

Teo pushed on the wheels of his chair, propelling himself forward and waving his arm for them to follow. Sokka was quick to do just that, keeping pace with the other boy as he showed them around the temple. 

“My dad is a really great inventor.” Teo said, gesturing up to the walls where a mess of impressive looking pipework zigzagged overhead and disappeared into other walls. “All of the machinery here is powered by hot air, including my glider and the elevator. These pipes here run through the whole temple, pumping the air where it needs to go.”

“An elevator?” Sokka was intrigued. 

“I’ll show it to you later.” Teo offered with a smile. “We’ll need to use it to move higher in the temple, anyway.” 

“This is unbelievable.” Aang’s voice was barely above a mumble, but Sokka still heard him clearly. The hall of the temple was too echoey to avoid it. 

“I’ll say!” Sokka nodded, tapping one of the pipes experimentally with his boomerang. It rang out hollow. “Just look at all of this!” 

“Yeah!” Teo added. “I think it’s all really great!”

“No.” Aang disagreed immediately, his voice completely void of tone. He stopped in front of a wall bursting with pipes. “It’s… just unbelievable.”

In the back of his mind, Sokka could tell that something was clearly up with Aang. He wasn’t as excited about all the new machines and such as Sokka was. Maybe he was still upset that his hopes for finding more airbenders had been squashed again. He couldn’t imagine how much that must’ve hurt. Sokka considered pausing in his tour to hang back and talk to Aang about whatever was going on with him, but then he saw Katara doing just that. 

Whatever he was going to say, it wouldn’t compare to the comfort and support Katara could offer. Sokka turned away and left them to their whispering, certain they could work it out among themselves.

It didn’t seem like there was a single piece of the temple that Teo’s dad _hadn’t_ managed to renovate. Even a fountain full of algae and stagnant water was given a use again as an exhaust vent. As Teo explained everything he knew about his dad’s inventions, Sokka found himself nodding along in wonder and stroking his chin. This man was clearly some kind of genius in his own right, and Sokka was excited at the prospect of possibly meeting him.

Eventually they did reach a place that still looked relatively untouched. Sokka looked around the space and wondered at what plans Teo’s dad might have in store for it, his mind running through a million different ideas and not settling on a single one. He didn’t have the chance to come up with a good idea before something crashed through the wall.

His first thought was that they were being attacked. Sokka had his club and boomerang both at the ready, quickly getting into a defensive position. 

It only succeeded in him looking like a spirits cursed idiot when the dust cleared and Teo called out “dad!” 

“Teo!” The man called back excitedly, climbing down from the contraption he’d used to render the stone statue to rubble. He approached them excitedly, grinning as he came and talking all the way. “What do you think? Doesn’t this place look _fantastic_ for a bathhouse? Oh, Teo, are these visitors? Hello, and welcome to the temple! I am the Mechanist, and who might you be?”

Before proper introductions could be made, Aang created an intense whirlwind that sent the Mechanist’s machine flying right off the side of the temple and plummeting to the far, far away ground. 

“You!” Aang pointed his staff accusingly up at the man. “How dare you disrespect the temple like this! I _knew_ the monks and the nuns who lived here! This was their _home_ , and you’re destroying it!”

The Mechanist held up his hands as if in surrender. Aang waited, seething with anger and continuing to point his staff like a threat. The man didn’t say anything, though, instead looking at his son with a look that could only be described as really confused. 

“This is Aang,” Teo introduced smoothly, as if Aang wasn’t ready to attack his dad, “he’s the avatar.” 

“Huh.” The Mechanist raised his very odd, half grown in eyebrows in surprise. “The avatar. Amazing. And an airbender no less. Imagine that.”

“You don’t have to imagine anything!” Aang snapped, lowering his staff from its dangerous position near the Mechanist’s throat but continuing to glare up at the man. “I’m the avatar, and I’m an airbender, and I’m _mad_ about what you’ve been doing to _my people’s temple_. What right do you have to do this?”

“I’m sorry that you think us being here is disrespectful, but please allow me to explain myself.” The Mechanist said, almost as calm as his son despite what could only be described as a very tense situation. “We had nowhere else to go! Our village was devastated by a massive flood years ago now. I lost my wife to the waters, and I almost lost Teo, as well. He was hurt in the flood and wasn’t able to walk anymore after that, but he was alive and that’s what was important. I searched everywhere for a place to begin a new life, when I stumbled on the temple. Originally, I didn’t intend to stay, but it seemed like a good place to at least make a start and recover for awhile.” 

Sokka nodded as he followed along to the story, a pang of sympathy going out to Teo and his dad. He knew what it was like to lose a parent so violently and so young. It was a feeling of sadness and longing for something he couldn’t quite remember, but he knew was missing all the same. 

“While I was exploring the temple, I found images of the airbenders, flying through the air on gliders. The images of the airbenders _inspired_ me to create gliders of my own so that my son could be on equal ground with others. Once I was successful with the gliders, I started to think about what else I could improve on. The temple had been run down and abandoned for _ages_ , I was only trying to make renovations and improve upon what already existed, much in the way of nature.” 

Aang wasn’t swayed by the Mechanist’s speech in the slightest. Sokka had to hand it to him, when the kid was angry, he was _angry_. “Nature knows when to stop.” 

The Mechanist nodded, his expression placating but still undaunted despite how mad Aang clearly still was. Maybe he didn’t take Aang seriously because he was young? Teo must have been about the same age as him. “Obviously, as an air nomad from the time these temples were in use, your opinion and feelings on the matter are very important. I would also like to have a discussion with you about how you being here is even scientifically _possible_ -”

“Avatar magic-y things.” Sokka interrupted. “I should know, I was there.”

Katara hit him in the arm and glared. Sokka rubbed the spot where she hit him, but only shrugged in reply. He stood by what he said, it was accurate. 

“Then perhaps hearing from you would be good, too.” The Mechanist replied. “It’s always good to gather as many eye witness accounts as possible. I’m not sure I’ll have the time to discuss your concerns or address my own questions today, I have quite a busy schedule ahead of me today. Much to do, so little time.” 

“Would it help if you had some assistance?” Sokka volunteered, raising an arm up to draw the attention towards him. “I wanted to talk to you about some of the things you’ve been doing around here. I’m really interested!” 

“Fantastic!” He clapped enthusiastically. “Why don’t you come with me, then?”

Sokka was quickly led away by the clearly very excitable Mechanist. He waved goodbye to Aang and Katara as he left, but neither of them seemed as excited about him getting to go learn fun science stuff as he was. Couldn’t anyone just be happy for Sokka for a change? It wasn’t like he ever got to learn about stuff that interested him or anything. 

The Mechanist was talking, fast and animatedly as Sokka trailed behind him. He practically had to jog to keep up with him as they weaved their way through the temple. Sokka had so many questions that he wasn’t shy about asking, and the Mechanist was more than happy to supply him with the answers. Sokka took in everything hungrily as they traveled down and down and down, deep into the dark below the temple itself. 

“I apologize for the lack of light.” The Mechanist said. “We can’t use lanterns in these caverns because they’re filled with natural gas. _That_ was a discovery I made entirely by accident. I was exploring one day with a lit torch and I nearly blew myself up in the process. My spirit and my eyebrows have only recently started to recover from the whole ordeal.”

Sokka laughed. So that explained the man’s oddly patchy eyebrows. He hadn’t wanted to say anything in case it was some weird Earth Kingdom fashion trend or something. “What are we doing down here, if it’s so dangerous?” 

“Every home comes with its own set of issues, and the temple is no different.” He explained. “Occasionally, the gas leaks into parts of the temple. I haven’t been able to find a way to detect the leaks when they happen and alert the other people in the temple to the danger, though. Today I’m hoping to finally find a solution to that problem!”

Sokka grinned. “I think I can help with that.” 

It was more of a daunting task than Sokka had imagined, and definitely a different kind of experience. Despite Sokka’s best efforts to help, he wasn’t able to come up with anything that might help detect the gas leaks. The gas was odorless and invisible, making it impossible to actually detect when it was present. After spending hours stroking their chins and pulling their hair while running ideas by each other, the Mechanist eventually called a break on the endeavor and decided they should focus their energy on other things. 

“I find that sometimes the best solutions for a problem come to me when I’m not actively searching for them.” The Mechanist said, leading Sokka through the maze that was the inner workings of the temple and occasionally handing him things to carry. 

Sokka nodded along and accepted everything he was given unquestioningly. As they walked, the Mechanist continued talking, doling out advice about inventing and diving into stories about all of their lives in the temple as they went. He spoke almost too fast for Sokka to really catch everything he was saying, but he listened as best he could. 

After their recent rendezvous with Bato, Sokka had realized he’d been sorely missing the presence of adult men in his life. Specifically, adult men who were leaders and could easily lift the mantle of “in charge” off his shoulders, at least for a day or two. It was nice to finally be able to follow someone else’s lead for once and not feel like everything relied on a decision he had to make. 

Not that he didn’t like that he was kind of in charge of their group. It was just a lot, sometimes. Especially since he felt like he didn’t know what he was doing half the time and was at the mercy of his little sister and an all powerful twelve-year-old. 

The Mechanist was still talking, and Sokka was hanging on his every word and not paying attention to where he was going when he tripped over something. He managed to catch himself before his face could kiss the stone floor, but the price for his flailing arms was that all the stuff he’d been carrying was tossed aside without a care. 

Sokka scrambled up to his hands and knees and started to pick everything back up. The Mechanist dropped to his knees as well and gathered the things closest to him.

“Are you alright, Sokka?” He asked, handing Sokka a wrench. 

“Yeah.” Sokka sighed, embarrassed by his own clumsiness. “I hope I didn’t break anything too important.” 

“It’s nothing that can’t be replaced.” The Mechanist replied. He was about to hand something else to Sokka, when he paused and started to sniff at the air. He made a face. 

Sokka took a deep breath through his nose and nearly gagged. “What is that?” 

The Mechanist took another whiff and frowned. “I believe that smell might be a rotten egg.” 

“Rotten egg?” He wrinkled his nose. “Was I carrying one of those?” 

He nodded, but didn’t elaborate on what possible reason he would have to make Sokka carry a rotten egg of all things. “Let’s find it before it stinks up the whole place.” 

The two of them began their hunt around the hallway, searching every nook and cranny for the source of the stench. Eventually, Sokka found it and fished it out from under a big pipe. He held it up as far away from him as possible as he called the Mechanist over, triumphantly waving the nasty egg around. “Found it!”

“Good work, Sokka!” The Mechanist clapped him on the back.

Sokka grinned at the praise, but shrugged in an effort to hide how happy it made him. “The egg was pretty smelly, so it wasn’t too hard to find. I just had to follow my nose.” 

“Follow your nose, huh.” The Mechanist repeated quietly, almost to himself. He gingerly took the egg from Sokka and held it up to his nose, sniffing at it delicately. Sokka watched him curiously, uncertain of what he was doing. Then the Mechanist grinned. “That’s it!” 

“Yep.” Sokka nodded. “That’s the rotten egg, alright.” 

“No, Sokka, don’t you see?” The Mechanist grasped Sokka by the shoulders and shook him excitedly. “You were able to find the egg by following your nose! If we fill the gas chamber with rotten eggs-”

“-then the gas will have a smell, and you could find any leaks that make it into the temple!” Sokka finished the thought, mirroring the Mechanist’s excitement. That was just the solution they’d been looking for, all he had to do was find enough rotten eggs to make it work. Though if the Mechanist had _one_ rotten egg lying around, odds were there had to be more somewhere else, too. 

Before Sokka had the chance to really _ask_ about the other rotten eggs that may or may not exist, he was interrupted by a sound. There was the unmistakable ring of a bell that made the Mechanist freeze in his excitement. Sokka watched with confusion as the Mechanist’s face fell from ecstatic to panicked, his grip on Sokka’s shoulders tightened slightly. 

“Mr. The Mechanist?” Sokka questioned worriedly.

He snapped out of it suddenly, shaking his head. “Sokka, you need to come with me.” 

Sokka opened his mouth, but he didn’t know if it was in protest or to agree. It didn’t matter, either way, because the Mechanist grabbed his arm and ran. Sokka had no idea where they were going or why he was being brought with, but it seemed like it was important so he ended up not saying a word. 

They raced down a hall towards a room that Sokka vaguely recognized from the last air temple he’d visited. If he remembered correctly, the door to this particular room could only be opened by air bending. 

The door was wide open. 

Sokka had a bad feeling about this. 

They reached the door, and the sight inside the room sent Sokka’s stomach _plummeting_. The room was full of what Sokka could only describe as half finished weaponry. Like a centerpiece was a giant, sinister looking thing that draped the room in deep red. As if that wasn’t evidence enough of what was happening, there was the Fire Nation’s flame, front and center for all to see. 

Sokka tore his arm away from the Mechanist and took a step back. He barely even noticed Aang and Teo _inside_ the room, rounding on the Mechanist. 

“Dad, what _is_ this?”

“Explain yourself!” Aang demanded. “Why are you building weapons for the _Fire Nation?_ I thought you were trying to make a new life _outside_ of the war! That’s why you’re here! To make a new life! A better one! How is this _better?_ ” 

“I don’t have a choice.” The Mechanist replied. Sokka would have thought he would yell, to match tones with Aang and Teo, but he just spoke as normal. He took a deep breath and began his story. “A few years ago, the Fire Nation found our home. They tried to destroy it, our lives and our safety, everything we worked so hard to build. Gone, just like that. We would all have to start all over again. I couldn’t let that happen. So, I struck a deal with the leader of the group, a war minister, Qin. As long as I supplied him with new weapons every month, we could all live in the temple here without fearing for our lives.” 

“So you’re working for the Fire Nation?” Teo asked, he sounded hurt. “You’re helping them hurt people?” 

“Teo,” his dad took a step forward, but Teo rolled himself backwards and turned his face away, “please, you have to understand, it’s more complicated than that. I don't _want_ to do this, but I have to! To protect you, to protect _us!_ " 

Sokka felt something tighten in his chest. Not quite sympathy, but understanding. With how the world was right now, a lot of people were more concerned with self preservation than protecting each other. The Northern Water Tribe who'd cut themselves off from their brethren in South came to mind. What they were doing was different, of course, but it was in the same vein as what the Mechanist was doing here. Even Sokka himself knew, personally, that he would do whatever it takes to keep Katara and Aang and his home safe. He’d like to think he would never go so far as to work _for_ the Fire Nation, but of course it wasn’t like that was something he’d ever have to worry about. 

Teo refused to even look at his dad, and Aang was glaring at the Mechanist like his gaze was enough to make him change. The Mechanist sighed, and Sokka watched his shoulders deflate. The man shook his head sadly, giving up for the time being on trying to convince his son that what he was doing was for the best. Before any of them could even say anything more, the Mechanist turned around and left the way he’d come. Sokka glanced at Aang and Teo, but neither of them looked back at him. 

Teo and Aang exchanged a look before chasing after him. Sokka followed after them. He trailed the two of them all the way back to the Mechanist’s study, uncertain of what he was going to do aside from stand back and watch the drama unfold. 

Aang busted through the door of the study, Teo rolling in after him. The Mechanist, startled by the interruption, accidentally knocked over the thing he’d been examining. It looked like a small scale version of the giant machine from the sanctuary. Sokka wanted to squeeze his way between Teo and Aang to go look at it himself, to see if he could figure out how it worked. He knew better than to do that, though. He stayed put behind them. 

“Don’t run from me! We have to talk about this.” Aang marched into the room, stopping close to the Mechanist’s plans and other little mechanical models. “Mechanist, you have to _stop_.” 

“What else am I supposed to do?” The Mechanist demanded, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’ve been going over my options for _years_ , now, and I can’t find a good way out of this! There’s no way for us to get out of this safely without direct backlash from the Fire Nation! This is the best way to keep us all safe.” 

“No.” Aang shook his head resolutely. “That can’t be right. There has to be _something_ you could do.” 

The Mechanist opened his mouth to speak again, but then the little bell on his desk rang again. He flinched at the sound. “You all need to leave. Right now.” 

“No.” Teo denied, voice firm and arms crossed over his chest. “We’re staying here. You’re not hiding things from us anymore.” 

The bell rang again, almost more insistently this time. The Mechanist looked at it worryingly. “Fine, but you all have to hide.” 

Sokka was quick to do just that, huddling himself behind a pile of junk. Aang and Teo disappeared off to their own little corners. Sokka could barely even see them from their hiding place. They probably were hidden well enough, and he figured he was, too, so he shifted himself around so he could focus on what the Mechanist was doing instead. 

He pulled a rope, and up from the floor rose a man. That must have been the elevator Teo had been talking about earlier. Sokka wished he’d gotten to see it under better circumstances. The man was thin and intimidating, wearing long, flowing Fire Nation robes. He was standing tall and frowning at the Mechanist as if he was better than him. No doubt this was the War Minister he’d mentioned. 

“Are the weapons prepared?” The man asked. “I don’t have all day, Mechanist.” 

“Of course, War Minister Qin, I-”

The door slammed with a gust of impossible wind. Sokka felt his hair and tunic ruffle in the breeze as Aang stepped out from his hiding place, face contorted with a fury Sokka hadn’t witnessed before. It tore him between his instinct to protect his friend and to shrink back like a coward from danger he definitely wouldn’t be able to defend himself from. 

“The deal is off!” 

The man had the decency to look taken aback for a moment before his expression shifted to the same face of disdain he’d been wearing when he came in. “Avatar. Interesting to see that you hold no value for your own people’s ancestral temple. Well, if you _insist_ , I will be more than happy to destroy this relic for you.”

He moved back towards the elevator, and when he entered he turned back to Aang, smirking. The expression made Sokka’s insides feel slimy, and he suppressed a shiver. “And when history asks what happened to the Northern Air Temple, I will make sure the world knows that it was all the work of the _avatar-_ ”

With what must have taken incredible restraint, Aang airbent at the man, smacking him so hard in the face that he fell back against the elevator. Somehow, he seemed stunned but not harmed. The elevator began to descend, and Aang slammed the opening he’d come in shut. 

Watching Aang in that moment, Sokka realized he was seeing a side of his friend he’d rarely had a chance to witness. Aang hid it well, but deep inside him was a volatile rage that was bubbling dangerously too close to the surface. There was anger inside him, and he needed to get it out. Sokka had a feeling that the traditional Air Nomad way was probably meditating or talking about his feelings or something. Those weren’t exactly things Sokka was good at. 

But a fight?

Well, that just might work, too.

As excited as Sokka was to fight the Fire Nation, he wasn't sure how they were actually supposed to _do_ that. Aang had stormed out of the room the moment the war minister was gone. Sokka and Teo were quick on his heels. Aang didn't say a word to either of them, stomping on until he found Katara outside. Sokka had no idea how he managed to find her, it was almost like he gravitated towards her. Was that a thing soulmates could do? Or was it just coincidental?

“Aang?” Katara’s face, which had been split into a big grin, fell into a concerned frown. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” 

And then the anger seemed to just roll off Aang, like steam off a pot of boiling water, and he flopped himself onto the ground at Katara’s feet. Katara joined him on the ground, patting his back in a comforting gesture and looking up to Sokka for explanation. He just shrugged. 

“We have to fight the Fire Nation.” Aang mumbled into the ground.

Once again, Katara glanced up at Sokka in confusion. “Were we not already doing that?” 

“We were.” Sokka nodded. “And we are. Aang, bring her up to speed.”

Aang sat up cross legged on the ground, leaning his face into one of his hands as he told Katara about everything that’d happened since he’d split off with Teo. Katara managed to only look more and more worried the farther along in the story Aang got. When he reached the part about his confrontation with the war minister, she even went as far as to hold her face in her hands. 

“Aang,” she groaned, “you _invited them_ to attack the temple?” 

“It was either that or let the Mechanist keep giving them weapons!” Aang said defensively. “If they defend themselves against the Fire Nation and win, they’ll probably be left alone from now on!” 

“Okay.” Sokka nodded. He wasn’t sure if he really agreed with Aang’s thought process, but this wasn’t the time to argue. Whatever the Fire Nation did later, they were still going to attack now. “But how are we supposed to do that?” 

“The way I see it,” Aang began to explain, a smile creeping onto his face, “it shouldn’t be that hard. The Fire Nation have to attack from the _ground_ , but _we_ have the whole _sky._ ”

Aang gestured up to the clear blue sky above them, empty and ever expansive. Sokka had to admit that as far as advantages went, it wasn’t bad. Plus, the Fire Nation probably wouldn’t be expecting it. 

“I see what you’re saying, and I think it’s a good idea.” Sokka replied. “But what are we supposed to attack with?” 

“Please,” a voice from behind him interrupted. Sokka turned and wasn’t surprised to see the Mechanist standing there, head bowed in contrition, “allow me to offer my assistance.” 

“Dad?” Teo sounded so hopeful, Sokka wasn’t facing him but he could practically _hear_ the smile on his face. 

“I want to make up for what I’ve done.” The Mechanist said. “I know this won’t be enough for everything, but it’s a start to make it right.” 

Aang nodded, and his usual smile was back on as if he hadn’t been angry at all. Sokka felt like he was going to have to ask him about that later. “Thank you.” 

Sokka ran back off with the Mechanist to help him with whatever plans he might have had to help. As it turned out, what he wanted to focus on was what he referred to as a “war balloon”, the giant thing Sokka had seen in the sanctuary. For the most part, it was already all put together and only needed a few finishing touches. Mostly what happened was the Mechanist babbled on to him as Sokka passed him the necessary tools he needed. Sokka filed all of the information the Mechanist told him to focus on later. 

While they were at it, they also loaded up on a variety of bombs. Most of them were technically nonlethal, but would definitely pose as a danger and a detriment to whoever they fell on. Sokka handed Aang a couple of the less violent bombs, mostly the slime and stink ones, that he had tied up on a sash so Aang could still glide around properly. 

The Fire Nation crawled their way up the craggy cliffside in tanks and on foot. Aang assembled all of the capable gliders together, leading the charge as Sokka and the Mechanist hung back for a moment, getting the war balloon ready for takeoff. 

By the time they launched the balloon and made it out to battle, most of the tanks were knocked over and bombarded by falling projectiles from the members of the temple. Sokka felt a burst of pride in his chest at the sight of the wreckage below. They were doing it! Not only were they all holding their own, but they were winning!

Or they were, for the time being. It soon became clear that they were running out of bombs to drop, but there were still soldiers left standing below and continuing their ascent to the temple. It was finally time for Sokka and the Mechanist to strike. 

Sokka dropped as many slime bombs as he could down on the armed forces. It wasn’t enough to deter them, but it kept them distracted while Sokka tried to think of something to do. Yes, it was good that they were able to break down their forces so much and that their war machines were in ruins, but if any of the soldiers actually _made it up to the temple_ , everything was as good as over. 

It was almost like a sign from the spirits when the stench hit his nostrils. Rotten eggs. 

Sokka exchanged a glance with the Mechanist. They were near a gas leak. One of the dangerous gas leaks that had almost cost the Mechanist his life from the mere addition of a torch. Sokka looked from the Mechanist, to the tanks still slowly encroaching closer, and then to the hot air engine keeping them afloat in the sky. 

He knew what he had to do. 

Without so much as a thought to his own safety, Sokka wrenched the engine out of the balloon and threw it with all his might at where the gas was leaking. He and the Mechanist fell, and there was an explosion. Bright and horrible and hot, a blast so intense he could feel it even from the distance. 

One moment he was falling freely through the air, and the next he hit something solid. It was still a jarring sensation, but one he was getting more and more used to as time went on. 

Appa’d caught them as they dropped. They were safe. 

Sokka closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly, relishing the feeling of being alive and safe and _victorious_ over the Fire Nation. He felt himself grinning, and his heart was thrumming with the remnants of adrenaline in his chest. It was a beautiful feeling. 

They landed back at the temple, the Mechanist climbing off to join the other refugees. Sokka didn’t move from Appa’s saddle, and Aang didn’t move from his head, either. It was about time for them to move on. They could all agree that they’d spent enough time here. 

“Before we go,” Aang said as he stood up on Appa’s head, he was clearly talking to the Mechanist and Teo but also addressing the crowd, “I just wanted to say that even though I didn’t like the changes you made to the temple, I understand why you did it. You don’t need my approval to keep living here, but you have it, anyway. I am truly happy that you’ve made this temple your own, and all I ask is that you continue to protect it.”

“Of course.” The Mechanist replied with a resolute nod. “We’ll do whatever we can to protect our home.” 

“Thank you.” Aang bowed before sitting back down. “Appa, yip yip!” 

And with that, they were gone again. 

As they flew off, Sokka stared up at the sky above them. He was spread out on the saddle, arms and legs loose and taking up as much room as possible. It was odd, but the adrenaline faded from his system and left him in a state of lazy relaxation. He felt like he could just fall asleep any second. 

“Hey, Aang,” he said, eyes focused on a little cloud drifting not too far above them, “can I ask you something?” 

“Sure.” There was a ruffling sound as Aang turned around on Appa’s head. “What is it, Sokka?” 

“You were pretty mad about the temple earlier.” Sokka said, trying to flop himself up to a sitting position so he could actually look at Aang before settling on just raising his head. “But then at the end there you told them you were happy they were there. What changed?” 

“Nothing.” Aang sighed, slumping forward just a bit. He raised a leg to his chest and held onto it with both hands. “Nothing changed. Honestly, I’m glad that they’re safe and they found a place to live, but I _am_ still mad about some of the things they did there. I can’t do anything about it now, though. That was done in the past, all I can do is hope they do better for the temple in the future. Besides, that’s what the temples are there for, as a sanctuary for people who have nowhere to go. Having them live there is like keeping the spirit of the temple alive, in a way.” 

“That’s a good way of looking at it.” Katara added in support. 

He nodded. “The monks always said that anger, even when understandable and justifiable, isn’t something you should use to fuel yourself. It’s good to acknowledge the feeling and find the source, but ultimately it’s something you need to let go of or it can poison you from the inside out.” 

“Really?” Sokka’s head flopped back down onto the saddle. “I never thought of it like that.” 

“Yeah. The monks taught me a bunch of ways to dispel my anger when I was a kid. I could teach you sometime, if you want.” Aang offered. Sokka heard him slide off of Appa’s head and creep over to where Sokka was laying. He was sitting up above him and smiling. “Do you have any anger you need help letting go of, Sokka?” 

Sokka breathed in deeply and thought, searching the depths of his feelings. There was anger there, of course there was. But only what was always there. Only what he was used to. 

“Nah,” he returned Aang’s grin easily as he refused, “I think I’m good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was sponsored by the concept of anger and rotten eggs. 
> 
> (but no in all seriousness THANK YOU for reading!! I hope you liked it! <3 
> 
> ALSO!!! Very important announcement (this mostly concerns the Zuko fic because it's about him but it's also relevant to this fic as well for the portions he's in) : 
> 
> I've been asked about this a couple times and I just wanted to say that Zuko is autistic in this series, but since it's not something that's going to be really addressed in the series itself I'm not going to be tagging that (unless that's something people think I should be tagging anyway? let me know) anyway I've been having a good time writing so far and I'm doing research and stuff but if I write anything that comes off as negatively stereotypical or offensive in any way please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to fix it <3 
> 
> Thanks again for reading! Have a good night <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!!! I know it's been awhile since I posted a new chapter, sorry about that lol I also know that this one is definitely pretty short, all things considered. I did think about making it longer but I thought this was a pretty good stopping place. 
> 
> I'd love to say that it'll take less time between chapters, but I'm starting college this month (yay!!!) so it might be... about this long give or take every chapter. The other ones WILL be longer, though, I can promise that much.
> 
> Anyway we made it to the North!!! And you know what that means... 
> 
> Things are about to go down the next few chapters >:) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! I hope you like the chapter

“Are we there yet?” Sokka whined, flopping over on Appa and staring down at the ocean below. “Appa’s going so _slow._ ”

“Leave him alone!” Aang snapped at him, leaning forward and patting Appa’s head. “He’s doing his best.”

“ _Is he, though?_ ”

“Yes! He is!” Aang was attempting to glare at Sokka, but Sokka was pointedly still looking at the ocean instead. “I don’t remember you ever offering to carry us all the way to the North Pole.”

“I would if I _could_ , Aang.” Sokka shrugged. “But unfortunately, I am _not_ a gigantic fluffy sky monster with no other responsibilities than to fly around from place to place.”

“You take that back! Appa’s _super_ responsible!” He pressed his cheek against Appa’s head, wrapping his arms around one of his horns. “You’re just jealous.”

“ _Jealous?_ ” Sokka repeated incredulously, finally tearing his gaze fully away from the ice strewn waves below. “Why would I be _jealous_ of _Appa?_ ”

“Why _wouldn’t_ you be?” He countered. “Just admit it, Sokka!”

“No! I won’t! Because there’s nothing to admit!”

“Would both of you just _calm down?_ ” Katara shouted, standing between the both of them and looking ready to bend them to submission if she had to. “Look, we’ve been traveling for _two days straight_. We’re all a little tired and hungry and jealous of Appa-”

“Am not.”

“-not now, Sokka.” She took a deep breath and smiled, but it looked tense. “We’re all a little cranky and on edge, but that doesn’t mean we should be turning on each other. Why don’t we all just calm down and try to relax until we find the Northern Water Tribe? We’ve gotta be there soon, right?”

“I don’t know about that. Do we even have any idea where they are? Other than, you know,” Sokka gestured out to the open waters below, “vaguely this way?”

Katara turned to Aang, who sheepishly looked away and shrugged. Clearly, his idea of where they were going was as good as theirs.

“Well, I’m sure if we keep going, we’ll find them eventually.” Katara said. “It’s not like the North Pole’s _that_ big, they shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

As if on cue, they were attacked. Icicles slashed up at them, and water whips vaguely reminiscent of the ones Katara tried to sling wracked against Appa, freezing where they made contact with his furry hide. Sokka did his best to try and defend, but their enemies were too far away for him to really do anything. Unlike Sokka who only had his club, knife, and boomerang to work with, these guys had the entire ocean on their side.

Speaking of people who had the ocean on their side, Aang was trying his best with the little water bending he knew how to do, melting the ice encasing Appa but unable to get it all off before it was replaced with even thicker ice. Katara, on the other hand, was doing nothing. She stood, wide eyed, in the middle of Appa’s saddle.

“Water benders.” She said, her voice hushed with wonder and excitement. “They’re water benders!”

“Yeah.” Sokka nodded. “Waterbenders that are _attacking us._ ”

“Sokka, don’t you know what this means?” Katara grinned. “We did it! We found the Northern Water Tribe!”

“Huh.” Sokka said as Appa landed in the water and was easily captured with chains made of ice. It was funny how the spirits always seemed to pick the most perfect moment to prove him wrong. “Maybe I should be negative more often. We’d get a lot more done that way.”

“Please don’t.” Katara sighed, but her excitement was still palpable, the smile still big on her face. “I can barely handle you now.”

The water benders took a good, long look at the three of them on the back of their giant flying bison. Katara was still staring openly back at them, nearly vibrating as she waited for them to do some more bending. Sokka, uncertain what was going on at this point but feeling like he had to do _something,_ waved at them.

The water benders all turned and looked back to each other, communicating with each other using just their facial expressions. One of them waved back at Sokka and then was elbowed by the water bender beside him. Another water bender nodded, and the ice around Appa melted and was bent off him, splashing back into the ocean.

“Does your … _that_ swim?” The water bender Sokka assumed was the leader of the group gestured to Appa.

Aang nodded. “Yes! He’s a _great_ swimmer! It’s one of his favorite things to do.”

“O … kay.” The water bender nodded before turning his back to them, gesturing for Appa to follow.

The water benders set off, using their bending to propel their boats forward. Appa seemed happy enough to swim behind them. With the bender’s increased speed and Appa’s strong but still somehow lazy paddling, it didn’t take long for them to make it to the ice wall.

It was so tall that Sokka had to tilt his head all the way back to see the top, and so thick that he doubted a Fire Nation ship of _any kind_ would be able to pierce it. Not like the one back home.

 _I wonder if they ever got that wall fixed after we left._ Sokka thought as he watched the benders melt a hole in the ice big enough for the boats and Appa to fit through. _Next time I see Zuko, I’m hitting him with a chunk of ice for doing that. And for knocking down my tower. I worked really hard on that! Jerk._

As they floated through the hole and into the city, all of Sokka’s breath and bitter thoughts left him all at once.

Everything, _everything_ looked like it was made of ice. Feats of architecture that could rival anything he’d seen on the islands they’d visited on the journey here. Giant works that stretched towards the sun and glittered like no other substance on earth could. Sokka looked around wildly, uncertain where to keep his focus. There were bridges and buildings and _canals_ and all sorts of other things he’d never seen in the context of his tribe before.

He was torn between awe and annoyance. It was like looking at an alternate version of his home. Sokka wondered if the Southern Tribe had _ever_ looked like this, but in his mind he knew it didn’t. It all looked so cool and impressive, but overly intricate structures where simplistic ones worked just as well. It didn’t fit with their generally more … rustic, in comparison. This almost felt like they were flaunting all their water benders. All their people in general.

Sokka looked around as they floated along on Appa’s back when something in the canal caught his eye. There was a canoe, making its way leisurely across the water with the aid of a waterbender smoothing the journey. It wasn’t the canoe itself that dragged his gaze away from the city, though. It was the passenger _in_ the canoe.

She didn’t look real. Her hair was the same blinding shade of white as the snow and ice surrounding. It almost seemed to glitter in the bright sun. He couldn’t stop looking at it. At her.

Her canoe passed, and their eyes met. His breath caught in his lungs. Her big, ocean blue eyes boring into his as if she was peering right into his soul. She must have liked whatever it was she saw in him, because she smiled.

The girl smiled, and then her boat slipped away. Sokka scrambled down to Appa’s tail so he could watch her go.

“Wow,” Katara sighed behind him, “it’s so beautiful here.”

“Yeah,” Sokka nodded, his mind consumed with white hair, dark skin, and the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen, “she is.”

The three of them were invited to a feast later on in the night to celebrate their arrival. They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but the tribe seemed just as excited to have them as they were to be there. Sokka was definitely excited to be there, but mostly he was excited to eat something familiar. And maybe see that girl again. Both of those things would be great.

The feast was held after dark, the moon high in the sky as he, Katara, and Aang were led past all the other guests and towards the head of the tables, so they could clearly see everything and in turn be seen by everyone. Sokka sat down, Katara at his right and a few empty seats at his left. Were there people who hadn’t arrived yet? Given where they were seated, they must be pretty important people. That was even more odd, because it seemed like the feast was about to start even if these important people hadn’t arrived.

Then, just as it seemed like things were about to begin, the seats to his left were finally filled. Well, one was filled. The other had a man standing right in front of it, hands braced on the table in front of him. Something about him commanded attention, and Sokka found his eyes drawn to him as every other member of the tribe's seemed to be.

“Tonight is a very special occasion indeed,” the man, the _chief_ , most likely, Sokka realized with a start, began. His voice was deep and booming, filling the space so all could hear it with ease, “for the first time in nearly a century, we are proud to welcome our siblings from the South. Along with them they have brought the Avatar, returned to the world after so long departed. All of this, on the night of my daughter, Princess Yue’s, coming of age. The convergence of all these events can only mean one thing. The spirits have a lot in store for not only our now marriageable princess, but for the rest of the tribe as well.”

He sat down, apparently reaching the end of his speech. Sokka stretched his hand out cautiously towards a dish piled high with roasted polar bear moose. His fingers stilled when he realized that no one else was doing the same.

A girl stood up to his left, beside the chief. A beautiful girl, with long white hair done up in a really complicated looking braided style he’d never seen before.

Wait. No, that wasn’t true. He _had_ seen it. Once before.

On a girl in a boat that had glided past him across the water. On a girl that made his insides warm the moment their eyes met. On a girl that made him _finally_ understand what love at first sight actually meant.

She stood, and she spoke, and Sokka couldn’t hear a word of it over the pounding of his own heart in his ears. Her voice crashed into him like waves against the shoreline, and the way she spoke was clear and concise. Unlike the chief, who spoke with clearly practiced ease, she spoke as if she was born to speak, like it was only natural for her to do so.

She spoke, and Sokka never resented the sound of his heart or his too loud thoughts more.

“Of course, this feast before us tonight was prepared to honor our visitors and myself,” she said, reaching the end of her speech now that Sokka was finally able to listen, “but before all else we must honor and thank Tui and La for all they have given us.”

She bowed slightly and sat back down beside him. As soon as she did, the stillness was finally broken and the people started to eat. Sokka joined in, as much as he wanted to talk to the girl he also didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to eat as much familiar food as possible.

He bit into a shank of polar bear moose, and the taste was just off center enough from home to hurt. Sokka swallowed it down thickly, and then turned to the girl at his left.

“Hi.” He said, propping his arm up against the table and leaning his cheek into his hand. He gave her his best grin and prayed to Tui and La there wasn’t anything caught in his teeth. “You’re the princess?”

Her mouth upturned slightly, but then he blinked and her expression was back to polite impassiveness. “I am. Princess is simply my title, though. My name is Yue.”

“Yue.” Sokka repeated, it was a pretty name. Everything about her was pretty. “I’m Sokka.”

She gave him a slight nod, then reached beside her and offered him a bowl full of sea prunes. “Nice to meet you, Sokka.”

He accepted the offered bowl and scooped the sea prunes onto his plate. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Yue.”

“You know,” he began, uncertain of where exactly his sentence was going to go, but knowing he wanted to keep talking to her, “I’m something of a prince, myself.”

Beside him, on his right, came a burst of laughter so loud and disbelieving it was almost obnoxious. “Oh, are you now?”

“You know, as a matter of fact,” Sokka twisted around in his seat so he could properly glare at Katara, “I _am._ ”

His expression and his tone did not have the desired effect, which Sokka blamed on his too hot to _not_ be blushing face. Katara snorted. “Oh, I’m _so sorry,_ prince Sokka. My deepest apologies. How could I _ever_ forget myself like that?”

She did a little half bow to him in her seat, the extra flourish of her wrist nearly knocking over the bowl of sea prunes in the process. Sokka was quick to catch it before it could spill all over, though in retrospect he thought she might deserve a lap full of sea prune right now.

“You remember you’re my sister, right?” Sokka asked as Katara rolled her eyes and nodded. “That means _you’re royalty, too,_ Katara.”

“You’re not getting me to stop making fun of you by giving me a title, _prince Sokka._ ”

He didn’t get the opportunity to defend himself or think of an equally perfect thing to make fun of her about before her attention was drawn elsewhere. In the middle of the room was a group of men, following behind a stern looking old man. They all stopped, and the old man bowed to the chief before leading the men in a _waterbending demonstration_.

Sokka sat in awe, watching their movements and the smooth, almost effortless way they manipulated the water. Katara was a great waterbender, Sokka could admit that, but all of her moves were self taught except for the one she’d learned from that waterbending scroll. He’d never thought anything of it before, but now it was obvious what the difference was.

There was a bitterness in his throat accented by the discrepancy in flavor. He swallowed and had to look away from the bending display in front of him. Instead, Sokka focused his energy on the two most important things in the room; his food and princess Yue.

“So,” Sokka’s voice cracked embarrassingly on the one syllable and he tried to ignore it even though he could feel the blood heating his cheeks, “what do you do for… uh… fun, around here?”

Princess Yue tilted her head. “Fun?”

“Yeah.” He nodded enthusiastically. Was there anything in his teeth? He hoped not. “When we were kids, my sister and I used to go sledding on the otter penguins. Or sometimes we’d have snowball fights, chasing each other all across the tundra and lobbing chunks of snow at each other. Of course, Katara had an unfair advantage, being a waterbender and all.”

She frowned at that, her snowy eyebrows knitting together. She didn’t say anything, though, so Sokka continued.

“Anyway, that’s just some of the stuff we did for fun in the South, but I don’t know what you guys do around here. I thought maybe if you wanted to we could… we could do an activity together?”

The princess fought back a grin, biting down on her bottom lip as she tried not to laugh. “Do an activity together?”

Hearing his own words repeated back to him made him feel incredibly stupid. What kind of question was that to ask? Do an activity together? He wished she would just kick his butt like Suki had, that would be less humiliating.

He turned away from her, hunching over in his seat and focusing on his food instead. Clearly, being here wasn’t going to be as fun as he’d thought.

When morning came the day after the feast, Katara and Aang left him to go learn how to waterbend from an actual master. Aang had talked to the master after watching the waterbending demonstration. From what Sokka was told about the guy, he sounded kind of rude and awful, but they had limited options.

Sokka was happy for them. He wasn’t _happy_ at all, but happy enough for the both of them to finally learn what they’d come here to do. So, he was left alone in the room to sulk all by himself.

He wasted away the first few hours of the morning thinking about the night before, how much he’d embarrassed himself in front of the princess. He tried to distract himself by working on his carving skills, but that didn’t have the desired effect, either. He only had so much material, and he really needed to sharpen his knife if he wanted to continue.

Time to go out and explore, he supposed.

Sokka trudged out of the room, dressed in his warmest coat and his favorite pair of gloves. Around his neck and tucked beneath the coat he had his coin purse, filled with Earth Kingdom currency that he was suddenly uncertain would be accepted here. Back home, they didn’t really have trade anymore. Not with the world, and not with each other. Everyone shared what was gathered and caught and made with the whole tribe. No one even so much as thought about cost. Sometimes there were exchanges, sure, when something was made specially for another person, but often what was exchanged was a favor of some kind. Something intangible, the worth of which couldn’t be physically measured.

The Earth Kingdom was different, though. Sokka already knew about the kind of money they had, little coins made of metals that were only found in the Earth Kingdom, prices of goods and services predetermined. In the Earth Kingdom, everything had a price, sometimes the price wasn’t as fixed in stone as he expected, but it was still always there.

The Northern Water Tribe, much like the South, did not participate in trade. At least, Sokka didn’t think they did. They’d been hiding behind their ice walls for so long, it was shocking anyone even knew they existed anymore. Unlike the South, though, they were clearly bustling and full of life and goods. Sokka suspected they probably used some form of currency, since their way of life, at least in this instance, seemed closer to the Earth Kingdom than it did to the Water Tribe he knew.

Sokka was still debating with himself over if his money was actually worth anything here or not, and if it wasn’t how he could figure out what to trade to get the things he needed when he saw something. Stark white against a backdrop of ocean blue.

“We meet again, Prince Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.”

Sokka looked down from the bridge, and there was Princess Yue smiling up at him. There was a crinkle of amusement in her eyes and the flash of her now unhidden grin. Sokka was glad he could blame the cold for the way his face flushed.

“Princess Yue, hi!” He leaned against the edge of the bridge, bringing them just the slightest bit closer together. “What brings you out here?”

“I come here at least once every day,” Yue admitted with a small shrug of her shoulders. Her hands were hidden inside a luxurious looking fur muff, “there’s nothing I love more than observing the city at the height of the day, and in the middle of the night. It’s a bit more difficult to get out for that, though. My father’s not fond of me going anywhere alone in general, let alone at night.”

“Hm,” Sokka propped his chin up with his gloved hand, his elbow nearly slipping off the icy bridge before he could catch himself, “well, if you need some company tonight, I’m still available. I’m sure your father wouldn’t oppose a brave, strong warrior from the South guarding you from whatever big scary thing he could be worried about.”

She raised an eyebrow and bit her lip in a way that Sokka could only read as coy. “Is that your idea of an activity, Prince Sokka?”

“Hey, prince is just a title,” Sokka replied, “you can just call me Sokka. Or Mr. Super Cool Boomerang Guy. And yes, that _is_ my idea of an activity. Unless you have a better idea?”

“No, I don’t.” She brought her joined hands up to her face and laughed into the fur. “But I think that’s a fine enough activity, Sokka. Meet me here tonight, when the moon rises?”

“Sure! Of course!” There was excitement bubbling up inside him and he knew from the way his face hurt that he was grinning ear to ear. He felt like he was Aang, floating and walking on air. “That’s more than fine with me!”

“Okay.” She giggled. It was quiet, less of a sound and more of a visual. The shaking of her shoulders, the brightness of her smile. “It’s a date, then.”

Her canoe was starting to drift along the canal, carried away by the small tide. He had no idea how she’d gotten it to stay still for so long. Probably waterbending or something. It didn’t matter, what mattered now was that she was leaving.

“A date?” Sokka chased after the canoe, sliding along the bridge as he went. “Wait, Yue, do you mean like a _date_ date or-”

He lost his footing and slipped all the way off the bridge and back to the footpath beside the canal, into the snow. He sat up and shook the snow out of his hair. In the ever growing distance between them, he saw Yue watching him. She was laughing and waving goodbye to him.

His face heated up, but he waved back, anyway.

He didn’t mind the embarrassment this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! Despite how long this chapter took to write I DID have a lot of fun trying to get the hang of Yue. Hopefully this first glimpse of her is alright, because she's definitely gonna be pretty important for the next... two or three chapters? 
> 
> Anyway, thank you. I'm sorry it's been so slow lately, but hopefully it was fun to read <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyyyyyy guyyyyyyyyys it's been a month but this chapter is FINALLY done!! 
> 
> There's more Yue in this chapter and I love her, also some serious Sokka stuff (the boy... he has emotions...) anyway I had a lot of fun writing this so hopefully it's fun to read :D

When Sokka made it back to the place they were staying, he was filled with a newfound inspiration. His conversation with Yue had him excited with whatever prospects their maybe-maybe not date would bring. He felt the buzz right beneath his skin.

All he really wanted to do was talk about it with someone, but the one time he needed to gush about a girl, Aang was nowhere to be found. Katara wasn’t around, either, but honestly that was for the best. This wasn’t exactly something he’d want to discuss with his little sister, of all people.

 _They’re probably still out learning under Master Old Guy_. Sokka thought, his sweet mood tinged just the slightest bit bitter.

He shook his head, no need to cloud his mind with that kind of stuff while he was having such a good day so far. No, he should be happy for them, and happy for _himself_ , too. It really was too bad that there was no one around who could also be happy for him.

A date. A _date_ with a _pretty girl_. Something he’d never done before (unless that lesson with Suki counted as a date. Did it count as a date? He’d have to ask her sometime, assuming they ever met again. How come they couldn’t have taught Momo how to deliver messages, then he wouldn’t even have to wait for it, he could just write her and ask). Either way, it felt like a first for him.

If this was a real date, should he bring her something? A present? Something nice to commemorate the evening?

...girls _did_ like stuff, he’d told Aang that himself.

Okay. Sokka nodded to himself and stroked his chin thoughtfully. So girls liked stuff. He would bring her something. He didn’t have much with him that a princess would have much interest in, though. Unless Yue was one of the coolest girls in the world and would be interested in a boomerang.

...interested in _holding_ a boomerang. For a couple minutes. Or maybe just look at it. It was one of the few items he had left from home, he wasn’t letting the thing out of his sight anytime soon.

Okay, maybe the boomerang wasn’t a good plan. Something else, then. Something personal?

Yeah. Yeah, something personal would be good. Aang braided that necklace for Katara that one time, and she really seemed to like it. She still wore it, but now that she had Mom’s necklace back again (thank the spirits, he thought it was gone for good) she wore it wrapped around her ankle instead. Maybe Yue would like a necklace, too?

He groaned and ran a hand over his face in exasperation. Even if she _would_ like a necklace, Sokka had repeatedly turned down Aang’s many _many_ offers to teach him how to make them. So that was out.

No boomerangs, no necklaces… what did that leave, exactly?

Actually, even if he couldn’t make a necklace… he _did_ know how to make other things. He was quite the accomplished artist, if he did say so himself. A man skilled in all sorts of creative endeavors.

Of course, as much as he would love to try and make a visage of Yue out of snow, it wasn’t exactly something portable and she probably wouldn’t be able to keep it. Something smaller, then. He’d been on the right track with that whole necklace idea.

He’d been practicing his carving earlier. Sokka knew it wasn’t something he was entirely skilled at, but it was something he was improving on the more he tried. By now he’d say he was pretty good at it. Maybe he should carve something for her? What would Yue even like, anyway?

When he thought about it, he really didn’t know all that much about Yue. That was part of why he was so excited to hang out with her, so he could get to know her better. What he did know could be counted off on less than one hand.

1\. Yue had the prettiest eyes in the whole world.

2\. She was a princess.

3\. Her voice was really pretty, even if she was using it to mock him a little.

From what he could tell based on the parts of her speech the night before he’d been able to listen to, she loved her the North just as much as he and Katara loved the South. Possibly even more so. Maybe he could carve her something based on that?

If he did that, there was really only one thing he could think of to carve.

His mind wandered back home. To the icy waters of the South, so similar but still different in a fundamental way he could feel deep in his bones. Then to a certain building in a little Earth Kingdom village by a volcano. To a tapestry in a hallway.

Tui and La, in their circular eternal push-pull swim.

Yeah. He could carve that. Easy.

It was slightly less easy than he’d thought it would be. Carving one fish to his standards of perfection ended up eating most of his time, and that was without adding any of the details that made it distinguishable as either Tui or La. That was fine, though. It was a good, pretty fish if he did say so himself. Yue would like it. Probably.

Hopefully.

He’d find out soon enough.

Sokka watched as darkness fell and the moon rose steadily into the sky, casting a silvery glow over the snow. Aang and Katara still hadn’t made it back from what they were doing, so he left with no one to say goodbye to. Hopefully they’d return by the time he got back from his “date” with Yue and he could tell them all about it. It would be nice to finally have something of his own to brag about for once.

He practically ran all the way to the bridge in his excitement. He’d only been waiting a few hours for this, but it felt like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life. Sokka was bursting with energy, but once he actually reached the bridge and saw her there, he stilled.

The only light was the moon, near full and washing the world in pale silver. He could see the light reflected on the little cresting waves of the canal and in the glittering of the bridge’s ice.

He could see it in the way that Yue, all long white hair and purple-blue layers that _should_ have made her blend into her surroundings better, absolutely glowed. It was almost like she was a jewel or like something precious that took the light and amplified it around her.

Sokka shook his head. No, Yue was a girl. Beautiful, yes. A princess, yes. Still a girl, though. A girl his age who asked to spend time with him, who may or may not be as nervous about the meeting as he was.

She was a girl, and if he treated her differently than that, as something more or something less, then it might ruin whatever slim chance he had with her. He took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge.

"Princess Yue!" He yelled and waved to her. "I'm here!"

She turned, and her smile was teasing and brighter than the moon. "Mr. Super Cool Boomerang Guy, it's good to see you."

Sokka felt his face heat up instantly. "You, too."

He joined her at the edge of the bridge, overlooking the water and the sprawling city of snow and ice. It really _was_ beautiful. Almost hauntingly so between the bright whites and deep shadows. He leaned heavily against the bridge as he stared. Yue stood beside him, not leaning like he was but her posture still relaxed.

"I can see why you like this view so much." He admitted. "It's breathtaking."

"It is." She agreed. "I've never really had the opportunity to share it with anyone before. We don't get visitors here, and the view's not exactly as… _special_ to anyone else who lives here."

He could understand that. Sometimes Katara stared at the ocean like it was the most precious thing in the world. Like it was a view she could never tire of. He didn't get what was special about it, for him the water was just water, but for her it was her heart, her spirit, her life. For Yue, it was obviously the same, but instead of the ocean that held her so steadfast it was her home.

"They probably just don't see it like you do."

Sokka turned his gaze away from the city so he could look at her. She was staring down at her mittens and smiling, her bottom lip caught between her teeth in an attempt to bite it back. His heart did something in his chest he couldn't name.

"Hey," he dug into his pocket before he lost his nerve, his hand wrapping around the carved fish, "I made you something."

He gently folded it into her hand, his own gloved hand keeping contact with hers a little longer than necessary. She didn’t seem to mind. At least, she didn’t say anything or pull away from him. That had to count for something.

Yue looked down at him, her smile was slight and puzzled. “A bear?”

His face heated up, and he quickly took back the carving and shifted it so it looked more… _fishy_. Less like a bear. “It’s a fish, actually.”

“Oh!” She laughed a little, and the sound was bubbly and sweet. “I see it now.”

“Yeah.” Sokka replied. “I thought about making two, but it took me all night just to make one.”

Yue nodded, lifting the carving close to her face so she could look at it better. “It looks like it took a lot of effort.”

“Thanks.”He grinned. Then, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say but he was too jittery to stay quiet, he continued. “I almost made you a necklace, actually.”

“You… what?”

“Yeah.” Sokka sighed, looking down at his hands. He could feel Yue’s eyes on the side of his head, and he hoped his nervous blushing wasn’t too obvious in the low light. “I’ve never done it before. I thought about asking Aang about it -the avatar, I mean, I don’t know if you really had the chance to talk to each other yet- he’s like a master at weaving necklaces out of practically anything. Don’t tell him I said that.”

“I…” Yue began, then stopped suddenly. Sokka turned to look at her, wondering what she might be trying to say.

She was frowning and shaking her head slowly. Her hands were tight fists on the edge of the bridge. Whatever pleasantness was in the air had frozen into tension.

“I can’t do this.” She pushed herself away from the bridge, still shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Sokka.”

“Yue? What do you mean?” He reached out a hand towards her and took a step. He just wanted her to stop. To explain.

Then Yue took another step back. Her voice was a breath, but in the stillness it ripped through him like a scream. “No.”

She turned around and ran away, and Sokka could do nothing to stop her. He was rooted to his spot on the bridge and watched her leave. In the blink of an eye, she’d disappeared seamlessly into the dark and the snow.

Sokka didn’t understand. One moment they were talking, laughing, having _fun_. Next thing he knew, she was running away from him like he was a monster. Like just the sight of him was enough reason for her to leave.

The moonlight spilled freely over the place where Yue’d been. Sokka stared at the nothing in front of him. His heart turned to a lump of ice in his chest and shattered, freezing him from the inside out.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, but eventually he found the strength and feeling in his bones to move. It was only then that he saw what she’d left behind.

The little fish he’d spent all day carving. All of his feelings and all of its flaws on full display in the pale light. Sokka stared at it.

He pushed the little fish into the water where it belonged. He didn’t watch it fall.

By the time he made it back to where they were all staying, Aang and Katara had finally returned. Aang was sitting on the floor, looking upset and the least excited Sokka had ever seen him. Katara, on the other hand, was fuming. She paced the floor and moved her arms in that way she did when she was just _so angry_ she didn't know how to express it.

Sokka walked in, and his depression was immediately swallowed up under his sister's fury.

"Where _were_ you?" She snapped. "Aang and I were worried!"

"Sorry." Sokka mumbled back halfheartedly, flopping onto his back beside Aang. "I had a thing with the princess."

Katara made a face and waved her hand at him. "I don't want to hear about whatever fun romantic "thing" you and the princess were up to."

He'd been content with staring blankly up at the ceiling in despair, but at that he lifted his head just enough to level a glare at her. "Does it _look_ like I just got back from a fun romantic thing?"

Katara was clearly still angry, but he saw something like concern flash across her face. "Sokka-"

"Nope!" He waved his hand dismissively and flopped back to the ground. "Not important. Complain about your thing. I'm all ears."

The distraction might be helpful.

Katara never needed to be told twice. " _Master Pakku_ is a stupid old geezer who _refuses_ to teach girls waterbending because he thinks they can't handle it. In the whole tribe, they don't have a _single_ female warrior!"

Sokka's eyebrows furrowed. "So what happens with the female waterbenders?"

"They only learn healing." Katara sneered. "Can you believe that? No self defense of any kind but we're expected to just… just… fix everything when they mess it up? Ugh! I'm so _mad!_ "

As if to illustrate her point, the ice around the room cracked. Sokka flinched. Last time she'd been this angry, she'd awoken the avatar from a hundred year slumber. Who _knows_ what she would do if left unchecked?

"Plus," Aang piped up, "he's not a nice teacher. He only goes over moves _once_ and just expects me to get them! It's really hard. I liked it better when Katara was teaching me."

Of course he did.

"So you're still being taught by Pakku, Aang?"

Aang nodded and sighed. "Unfortunately. I still need to learn waterbending and he's the only master here!"

If he was the only master waterbender here, he must be a lousy teacher. Sokka chose not to say that, though.

"Why don't you just… go to your lessons during the day and show Katara what he showed you later? That way Katara gets to see the cool bending moves she's not allowed to learn and then she can help you practice."

It seemed like the most obvious solution. From the stunned and excited looks exchanged between Aang and Katara, though, it hadn't occurred to them.

"Sokka!" Katara gasped, clapping her hands. "That's brilliant!"

"Thanks." Sokka's lip twitched up into an almost smile. He appreciated the ego stroking, but he was still wallowing in his own negative emotions to really enjoy it.

"Yeah!" Aang jumped up, abandoning his moping to return to his natural energetic state. "All we have to do is be sneaky and then we can both learn waterbending like we want! Everybody's happy!"

"I'm not happy." Sokka sighed, forcing himself to sit up.

Katara rolled her eyes, but all the rage was gone. She was smiling broadly now, almost laughing as she grabbed Aang by the hand and dragged him out the door. "You never are."

There was a problem in Sokka's perfect plan he'd forgotten to take into consideration. The entire plan hinged on Katara and Aang's ability to sneak around and do things in secret.

Katara. And _Aang_.

The two _least_ sneaky people he'd ever met.

Suffice to say, they were caught near instantly.

“Sokka, you _idiot!_ ” Katara roared as she stormed back in. “That plan was awful! We got caught by Master Pakku and he kicked Aang out of waterbending training!”

“Seriously?” Sokka sighed. “You guys weren’t even gone ten minutes.”

“Oh, that was _more_ than enough time.” Katara scowled, collapsing onto the floor beside him and crossing her arms over her chest. “How could he do that to Aang? He’s the avatar, he _has_ to learn how to waterbend! Aang can’t learn the other elements until he learns how to waterbend, Master Pakku has to know that!”

Sokka looked around, he was sure Aang wouldn’t want to be even more stressed out than he already was over everything that was going on. But he was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Aang, anyway?”

“He went off after Master Pakku to beg him to take him back as a student.” She replied bitterly. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. What about you, Sokka? What happened with Princess Yue?”

“I don’t _know._ ” Sokka groaned, dropping his hands over his face. "One moment everything was fine and the next she was running away from me. I don't know what I did, I… I really thought she liked me."

"Oh, Sokka." He didn't need to look up at her to tell that she was looking at him with wide, pitying eyes. Her hand patted his shoulder gently. "I thought she liked you, too. And for what it's worth, if she doesn't, it's her loss. Between you and me, I'm starting to think no one in the North Pole makes any sense at all."

"Yeah." He agreed, laying his hand on top of hers. "Me, too."

The North Pole continued to not make sense when Aang finally came back, dragging his feet dejectedly and flopping down between the two of them.

"Master Pakku said I'm not fit to learn Northern style waterbending if I can't respect the culture." Aang mumbled into the floor.

"I didn't realize thinking less of women was a part of his culture." Katara replied.

"So what do we do now?" Aang asked, rolling over onto his back. "We both still need to learn how to waterbend."

"As much as I want to learn from a master, I don't want to learn from Pakku." Katara spit the name between her teeth like it was poison. "I respect him as an elder, of course, and for being a master, but I just _can't_ get over how he could deem us both unworthy of learning under him! Water as an element has so many different forms and shapes, it can shift on a whim! So why is he, a master of the element, so rigid in his old ways?"

Sokka shrugged. "Pretty sure _all_ of the North is rigid in the old ways."

It was probably hard not to be, when you cut yourself off from the world for one hundred years.

"You're right." Katara groaned, rubbing her face with her hand. "I wish there was something we could do about it, but right now what's most important is getting Aang to master waterbending. Maybe, after you learn the other elements and the war is over, we can all come back here and knock some sense into these guys."

Sokka could tell how much it was killing her to say that. Katara wanted to plant her feet on the ice and stay here until the people changed, or until she made them change. Whichever came first.

But they only had so much time. If Aang didn't master the elements and bring down the Fire Nation soon, there wouldn't be a North Pole _left_ to change.

"Clearly, reasoning with Master Pakku isn't going to work anymore." She continued. "I'll try to talk to Chief Arnook in the morning and see if he can convince him to take you back."

Aang frowned. "But what about you? What are you going to do, Katara?"

She shrugged and smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "They'll still let me learn healing. With the way you guys are, that might come in handy later. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will work out, Aang."

Master Pakku was there when Katara went to talk to the Chief. Somehow, in an event that didn't strike Sokka as a surprise at _all,_ her pleading for Aang morphed into a threat against Master Pakku. After the outburst (where she'd somehow managed to not only _yell_ at the people she was asking for help, but she also caused some giant cracks in the floor and broke every vase full of water in the vicinity) Sokka joined her outside and waited for whatever meeting the men were having to end. He was hoping he'd be able to calm her down a bit before she went to talk to Chief Arnook again, maybe even help her convince him this time, but that plan was dashed the moment Master Pakku walked by them.

He didn't hear what Master Pakku said to her, but whatever it was it was enough to break her.

Sokka watched, wide eyed and incapable of doing _anything_ , as Katara reared herself up and shot a water whip right at the back of the master's head. The waterbending master, a man old enough to be their _grandfather_ , rose to the challenge and immediately began his assault against her.

There was a piercingly icy grip of fear squeezing around Sokka’s heart right up until the moment he watched her freeze the waves sent out against her and struck back at the master with a volley of ice daggers that looked sharp enough to kill a man.

This was _Katara._ Really, there was nothing for him to worry about. Time and time again, she’d proven she could hold her own in a fight. Sokka settled himself against the wall and watched with interest as the fight went on. He knew Katara was a good waterbender and that she’d been improving a lot since they left home, but actually seeing all of her skills in action filled him with a surge of pride he didn’t know what to do with. Long gone was the girl who accidentally froze him to things or lost her grip on a slim stream of water. Now she was confident, strong, and so much more capable than he or really anyone had ever given her credit for. She was in her element.

Ha. Element. He’d have to remember that one once the fight was over.

A crowd was gathering around to watch the fight, all just as interested and curious as he was. Sokka wasn’t actually able to follow a lot of what was happening, just that there was a lot of action and it looked really serious. He honestly couldn’t tell who would win the fight. He didn’t know if that said more about his sister’s skill or Master Pakku’s. Katara launched a flood, enough to wash _any_ man away. Somehow, though, Pakku transformed the waves to a mask of steam. He couldn’t see where either of them were until the steam dissipated.

Katara was frozen to a wall, the only part of her free of the ice was her head. Sokka shuddered at the sight. It looked just as claustrophobic as the genemite they’d been encased in during their trip to Omashu, but _definitely_ colder.

“Have you learned your lesson yet, _girl?_ ” The master taunted, standing close to Katara’s face and smirking. Sokka had never wanted to fight an old man more in his whole life.

Katara scowled back at him. “What was there to learn? That you’re a sore winner?”

“Please, there was nothing to win.” He scoffed, bending down and picking something up out of the snow in their destroyed little field. When he saw the thing he picked up, the smirk fell from his face, and he looked more confused than anything else. “What… is this?”

“You give that back!” Katara yelled, straining against her ice constraints. Sokka could see the ice start to crack around her hands. “That was my grandmother’s!”

“This… _can’t_ be your grandmother’s.” Master Pakku said, not letting go of the necklace. He held it close to his face to examine it better, as if looking for something specific in the design. “I made this for my beloved Kanna, sixty years ago, for our engagement.”

“Wait, wait, _wait,_ ” Sokka interrupted, stepping between his frozen sister and the old man who froze her, “ _you_ were engaged to _our_ Gran-Gran?”

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Why had she never mentioned anything like this before? It seemed like it was a pretty important piece of family history. Plus, she _knew_ they were going to the North Pole. Why didn’t she say anything?

Master Pakku melted the ice surrounding Katara back to mist, and dropped the necklace gently back into her waiting hand. “We were arranged to be married, both of us had known it was coming for years. The night after I gave her that necklace and made it official, though, she disappeared. I never knew what came of her.”

“I can tell you what came of her.” Katara replied, a hard edge to her voice as she replaced the necklace around her throat. “She’s living a happy life in the South Pole. Clearly she didn’t want to spend her life tied to someone like _you_.”

The venom in her words was made all the sharper by the complete silence that followed. There was a crowd, and they’d been murmuring quietly, as crowds are known to do, but now they were silent. Sokka looked between the two of them, waiting for someone to say something. Pakku’s eyes were wide, almost scandalized, but Katara glared unapologetically back at him. She held zero sympathy towards him.

The silence was finally broken by a high pitched, half choked sob from somewhere in the crowd. Sokka flinched and turned towards where he thought it came from, it was a painful and sad sound and there was _no way_ whoever it was was okay.

His eyes tracked a familiar looking silhouette running off from the crowd. Furs. A purple parka. White hair like fresh snow.

Yue.

He didn’t even think about it. He ran after her.

Sokka followed her all the way to the bridge from the night before. Yue stood at the same place, her head bowed to the sunlight. For a moment, Sokka stood completely stuck at the edge of the bridge. The events of last night still made his heart sore. Then he saw her crumple forward against the edge of the bridge, and suddenly he wasn't as stuck anymore.

"Yue?" He approached her slowly, taking in the slight tremble of her hunched shoulders and her little hiccuping gasps of breath.

"Go _away_ , Sokka." She said, not turning to face him. Her voice sounded thick with emotion.

“No.” He took a step closer to her. “In a minute. I want to talk to you about something, and then I’ll leave you alone. Forever if you want.”

She sniffled. “Sokka-”

“No. No. I’m sorry, but I… I have to say something. Listen, I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re… amazing. You’re one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen, and I mean that both inside and out. I like you a lot, more than I think I’ve ever really liked anyone. Honestly, I never thought you would ever even notice someone like me, and when you actually did, I was so happy. I think it’s pretty clear though that you don’t feel the same.”

“Sokka, stop.” Yue raised herself up and rubbed her eyes with her hand. She still wasn’t looking at him. “You don’t understand.”

“No, I think I do. I understand perfectly what’s happening here. You’re a princess from the North Pole, and I’m just some… peasant from the South. I get it, we’re too different. You could never feel the same way about me. Goodbye, Princess Yue.”

He turned, but before he could leave there was a grip on his arm so tight it was like a vice. “Wait.”

Sokka turned around again, back to Yue. This time, though, she was facing him.

Her eyes were big, wide, and red rimmed. He was transfixed by her cerulean blue gaze.

Then he was transfixed by something completely different.

Yue’s lips were… soft. A little cold, and slightly salty from her tears.

Was he breathing? He wasn’t breathing. That was probably for the best, since he didn’t know if he should be breathing from his nose or his mouth right now. Holding his breath was by far the best option.

As quickly as the kiss came, it was gone.

“I’m sorry.” She said, her voice soft. Yue’s gloved hand met his, and she squeezed it. “I like you, too, Sokka. More than I ever thought I would. But we… it’s impossible. We can’t be together, it won’t work out.”

With her free hand, Yue pulled down the furs around her neck. There was a necklace, with a little bone pendant. It looked familiar, and it only took Sokka a moment to make the connection.

It looked almost _exactly_ like Katara’s necklace.

The one he’d just found out was…

“You’re engaged?”

“Yes. It’s a political arrangement. We don't actually care about each other like that. There's no feelings involved.” Yue nodded. “I really didn’t think it would matter, but then I just felt this… connection between us. And then you said all that stuff and you said you wanted to make me a _necklace_ and I got scared and I… I just couldn’t do it. I’m sorry, Sokka, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to lead you on.”

Sokka took a deep breath. Between the kiss and all the new information, he was a little lightheaded. “I feel connected to you, too. In a way, I’m… I’m kind of leading you on, too.”

She pulled away slightly, but her hand was still in his. Possibly because he was hanging on to her hand so tightly. “What?”

“I have a soulmate.” He admitted, gesturing down to his wrist. “I haven’t met him yet, but he’s out there and I know it. I don’t know when exactly I’ll meet him or when we’ll fall in love, but I know it’s not now and it’s not with you.”

Yue frowned.

“No, wait, I don’t mean that in a bad way.” Sokka was quick to try to fix his mistake. “I just mean… you’re in an arranged engagement, and I have a soulmate. It’s… it’s almost funny that we’re both in this situation.”

“I don’t know if I understand your sense of humor.” Yue tilted her head. Her lip tilted up an inch. “But I think I understand what you’re saying. It’s like we’re in the same boat.”

“Exactly.” Sokka smiled. "The spirits are kinda against us both on this one, huh?"

“They really are. Should we start over?” She asked quietly, looking up at him. “Maybe… as friends this time?”

He stared at her big, deep blue eyes. Sparkling like the sun on the ocean. He could still taste the salt of her lips on his tongue.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I hope you liked this chapter <3 
> 
> (I'm really hoping to have a more in depth look at Sokka and Yue's relationship, especially with the whole soulmate/arranged marriage thing keeping them apart *wink wink* but who knows if I'll get to do that lol)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this!! I hope you liked it :D
> 
> I don't know how long it'll take to update, but I'll try my best to keep it steady. Anyway this is gonna be part of a series. The first work is gonna be all about Sokka and his journey to finding his soulmate. The next one's gonna be from Zuko's perspective. After that I'm hoping to write a third one where they actually do soulmate stuff.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, and if you ever want to talk to me about the series (cuz it's gonna be a pretty long one I think) or about really anything at all, you can hit me up on my [tumblr](https://destyni-is-me.tumblr.com/rel=) and I'd be happy to chat or answer asks or whatever :)


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